The Traveling Gentleman
by Literature from the Leuchovius
Summary: A man by the name of Varren discovers a machine that can understand the concept of infinity. Through this machine, he travels through many different worlds, such as the Mushroom World, Hyrule, the Fire Emblem world, and even gets a chance to speak to the countries of planet Earth! However, the machine is not all he discovers. Join him as he finds out hidden secrets about himself
1. In the Beginning

_Varren's Report #1: I have learned from my mistakes. I've come to understand not just the world, but the entire universe that surrounds me. I know that I might sound a bit arrogant when I say this, but I'm simply jotting down my emotions in this journal, and it_ feels_ as if I can understand everything. All that surrounds me has such a great story to it, every detail and every flaw, all this knowledge is buzzing around in my head. The best part of this situation is that I can actually comprehend all of it._

Such knowledge, such power, such information—it's all so grand and wondrous. At the same time, though, it's seemingly nothing at all. What's so great about knowing everything if you've no one to share it with? What's the purpose of this knowledge if I can't use it? What am I to do? I suppose I'll never know…

In even worse news, I found out that my twin sister, Megan, has been killed. There's no saving her; I'm completely alone. Nobody can come back from the dead… it's physically impossible. I suppose I'll have to get used to being alone then. I'll also have to get used to keeping all of this knowledge to myself… It seems rather hard to do, but I can manage it.

On a different topic, there's a part of me that's yearning to explore this city—no—this world, beyond that, even! Something in my heart is calling me to go somewhere, but where, and why? I suppose it's because of my loneliness, considering the fact that I have no friends, no family, none of that. It's understandable that I'd be lonely, sure, but to hear someone calling you to go somewhere in the middle of the night, to hear someone whispering your name, urging you onward to leave your home and go out into the wilderness—surely that is something more than simple loneliness? Yes… Yes, I can feel it. Something or someone wants me to go somewhere. It's calling me each and every night… I need to go and check it out. Why not? I've got nothing to lose.

Very well then, it's been decided. If I 'hear' that thing calling to me one more time, I'm going to explore it… Its voice though… why does it sound so familiar? Why on earth would it remind me of someone? It sounds so loving and full of care… as if it knows me. This strange connection further increases my desire to check out what it is, and therefore increases the resolve of my decision to explore it. It's been settled. 

Varren put his pencil to the side of his desk, closing his journal. He looked up into the mirror, observing himself. The gentleman's dark brown eyes were hard for him to acknowledge the dimly lit room. He smiled at how his regularly brown fedora seemed to complement his dark brown suit that he wore. Varren adjusted his hat, tidying things up. His brownish black hair hung just to his shoulders, barely visible because of his hat. Varren's smile soon faded, his face blank and emotionless. "You're alone now, Varren," he said to himself. He stared into his own eyes, knowing that nobody else would do such a thing, so he might as well do it for them.

_What a shame,_ Varren thought, his gaze shifting to his desk, eyes empty. _My sister dead already. I told her not to go to that city. Of course she didn't listen to me… she's far too kind for her own good. She wanted to change those who were evil into better poeple, even though she knew she couldn't. In the end, her kindness was her undoing_. Varren looked back up at the mirror, on the wall in front of his desk._ I won't be so foolish, Megan. Not only have I learned from my mistakes, but I'll learn from yours as well… May you rest in peace. _

Varren stood from his seat, letting out a sigh. Varren grumbled, complaining to himself, his gaze on his reflection never leaving. "You really are alone…" he said. "Alone and bored, too. There's absolutely nothing to do…"

Varren looked from the mirror to the front door. "I suppose I could go outside to observe my surroundings once again," he thought aloud.

The gentleman adjusted his hat once more. He opened his door, then looked around the area to contemplate about his surroundings. Varren was in a quaint neighborhood, houses everywhere. Each house had its own lawn and backyard. Some houses were two stories high. Varren looked around the street. It was empty. He let out a sigh, beginning to walk down the street. _Certainly is quiet today, isn't it?_ he thought to himself, trying to get entertainment from his mind. _I suppose I could use some peace and quiet…_ Varren groaned in complaint. _Oh, who am I kidding, this is _boring!

He sighed once more, looking around the area to have something to think about. Something in the sky seemed to catch the gentleman's attention. Varren looked up, holding his hat. There appeared to be a black object up there… It wasn't a plane, he knew that much. Planes were silver, where he came from, and he was pretty sure that they were silver everywhere else in the planet as well. He started thinking about what it could be. _There's a chance that it's a failed rocket, crashing from the sky. There's also a chance that it could be a meteor… but a black one? Stones aren't black. Well, hold on, considering the temperature of falling through the atmosphere it'd probably be black, given the fact that it would be covered in ash. But wait, if it were a meteor, it should've already made impact by now; it's falling too slowly to be a meteor. I suppose that that also rules out the possibility of it being a failed rocket from outer space. But then again, if it were a failed rocket, then it wouldn't have gone that far, and therefore not that high up. However, it would have to have traveled a long way to get here, considering the fact that there isn't a space station anywhere _near _here._ Varren stared at the object, simply fascinated by it. _What could it be?_ Varren's thoughts were interrupted by someone bumping into his shoulder.

"Oh, excuse me," said a man. He smiled at Varren friendlily. "You should really be careful where you're standing, alright, stranger? I'm pretty sure that you don't want to get into a fight with someone. Not everyone is really nice around here, so it's best if you mind your manners."

Varren tipped his hat to the fellow. "Greetings, sir," he replied. "I believe that you'll find that I'm quite well-behaved, but that's beside the point. I was looking at an object that was up in the sky." Varren looked up again, pointing at it. "I was wondering if you could tell me if you recognized that device from anywhere."

The man looked up at the sky. "Um, oh, I see it. Eh, I think that it's probably a helicopter. Don't concern yourself too much with it." He smiled at Varren. "Oh, and by the way, my name's Tim. It's always nice to meet someone who's 'well-behaved' like yourself."

Varren smiled at him, taking off his hat to bow politely. "My name is Varren, Tim. It's a pleasure to meet you." He began to walk passed Tim. "Thank you for your help in deciphering what that object was."

Tim smiled, waving goodbye to Varren. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's what neighbors do for each other, right?"

Varren didn't reply to that question. He simply continued to walk onward. _My, a helicopter._ he thought, questioning Tim's reasoning. _Well, I suppose that he's right. Just a simple helicopter… all worked up over that. _Varren continued to walk down the road, his destination unknown. _It feels like it's something more though. That thing..._ He shook his head, dismissing it from his mind. _Bah, enough of this overthinking, Varren. You've got to remember why you're here. You came outside to observe your surroundings._

Varren looked back up at the sky, staring at the object. _So observe I shall._ To his surprise, the object seemed to be a bit bigger than it was before. Varren tilted his head to the side. _What on earth?_ It was traveling at a slow pace, moving to the left, yet it seemed like it was going downwards. _Wait a minute… that's not simply the angle of the machine… it's actually crashing!_

Varren took off into a sprint, running towards the supposedly crashing object. He looked up at the object in the sky. From last time he saw it, it was even bigger. It was confirmed, then, that that machine in the sky was crashing to earth. Varren, now with newfound resolution due to the confirmation, ran even faster. The gentleman's heart was pounding in his chest so fiercely that he feared it might break loose from his body. He continued to sprint though, ignoring his already-exhausted state.

Varren kept his eyes on the object, and he saw that smoke was coming from it. A piece of the black object fell off as well, straying from the object itself. The black machine in the sky was almost visible by this point. It was a saucer-shaped figure, spinning round and round. Glass rectangles were on the edges of it, and they were flashing a bright red.

It didn't look anything _like_ a helicopter! What was that thing? Varren's concern was replaced with curiosity. He knew that nobody was in there. Nobody of _this_world, at least. He smiled in joy. _At last,_ he thought, _something to sate my knowledge! Something that's completely extraordinary, something that's so grand that this world can't even contain it!_ Varren chuckled, sprinting even faster.

The gentleman had made it into the woods. Off in the distance, he heard a loud crash; it was obvious that the machine had landed! He ran passed a mass of trees that were in his way, squeezing through to reach his sought destination. There was a massive crater in the ground, and in the center of it was the black saucer, the red lights still flashing. Trees around the area were all bent over in the opposite direction of the strange machine.

Slowly, he began to walk towards the saucer, his eyes shining with curiosity. Varren let out a chuckle, observing it with an inquisitive passion. _My word, what could this be…? Such a strange object..._ Suddenly, realization struck Varren. "Wait a minute," he thought aloud, "this thing, someone must have been driving it" He began to pace around it, walking in circles. "If that's the case, then this is meant to have an entrance somewhere, quite obviously." Varren stopped in front of it, just where he'd started to pace around the black saucer. "This thing is meant to be used for travel." His eyes widened. A smile spread across his face in delight. "So why not use it for what it was meant to be used?" He placed his hand on the black saucer, feeling around it. "Now all I have to do is figure out how to activate this door."

Suddenly, Varren's mind was transported elsewhere. He saw himself, placing his hand on the machine. Unable to control himself, he flew backwards, then high up into the air. He went above the forest, then zipped forwards, just next to it. Jolting downwards, his vision landed on the ground. He found himself staring at a piece of the machine…

Varren gasped in shock, his mind returning to where it had originally been. "What on earth was that?" he thought aloud. The gentleman looked at the machine. "It's as if it… it wants me to find the missing part of it and fix it. Like… like it has a mind of its own or something."

Suddenly, Varren heard a soft voice speak within his mind. It sounded familiar… it was that same voice he'd heard every single night! "Varren…" the voice said. It was female… how strange. "What you've come across will lead to your destiny…"

Varren looked around the area, trying to find the source of the voice. "Tell me, who are you?" he asked.

"You'll find that out in due time, Varren…" the voice gently replied. "There are many things more important than my name at hand, though… Varren, a darkness is rising, far away from this world… For the sake of your home, and many others, you must find the darkness and stop it… Only you can do this, Varren…"

Varren blinked, utterly baffled. "Only me?" he echoed. "Why does it have to be me, if it's so important?"

"It can only be you, Varren, because you are kin to me…" the voice replied.

Varren tilted his head, unsure if he understood. "Okay, but, what's this darkness that's coming to destroy everything? And why don't you stop it yourself?"

"The darkness is unknown to me, Varren… I do not have the power to see it for the horror that it truly is, simply because it feels as if its power is unlimited… There are two reasons why I can't defeat this darkness myself… I'm not in the same Realm you're in, Varren… I can't do a thing… to top that, my knowledge isn't as great as yours, Varren… Your mind, your fantastic mind, is the only thing that can defeat this darkness…"

"But how is simple knowledge going to defeat a darkness that has unlimited power? Surely there must be more?" Varren asked.

"Do not fear, my kin… You will gain power of your own in time… through this journey, you will find out more about yourself, and what you can do..." Static began to buzz about in Varren's head; he clenched his temple in annoyance. The voice said quietly, "I'm afraid that I must take my leave, Varren… I beg you to find the fraction of this ship, the one I directed you to… everything depends on you…"

"What? No! You can't just leave like that and tell me that I need to go and find something! What do I do after I find it? Do I go into this machine and look for the darkness? If so, how does it work? How do I operate it? I need more input!" he demanded. There was no reply.

Varren sighed, looking down to the ground as he shook his head. "Fine," he thought aloud, "I suppose I'll figure it out on my own. I _am_ a rather clever fellow, after all." Varren turned left, beginning to walk towards where the piece was, according to the vision that voice had sent him.

_That mysterious voice..._ Varren thought to himself, looking up in the sky. 'I'm kin to that voice somehow… It was the voice of a female… could it be Megan…?' Varren shook his head, dismissing the thought. 'No, that couldn't be. It's impossible for someone to make communications from beyond the grave; Megan most certainly did not speak to me. But if that's the case… then who on earth was that…?'

At last, Varren made it out of the forest. Something powerful was in the air; he could feel a powerful source of energy around this area. Varren smiled. He was obviously close to finding the fragment of the saucer. He didn't know how or why he could detect it, but he was thankful that he could, and would most certainly use that to his advantage. The feeling grew stronger as he progressed. In front of him was a large boulder. Varren put his hand on the rock, then lifted himself on top of it, looking behind it. Sure enough, there was a black object. It looked as if someone had taken a fraction out of a circle… Varren smiled. That was the exact shape of the saucer! Varren jumped down from the rock, landing next to the ship's piece. He picked it up, then ran as fast as he could back to the ship. _My,_ he thought, _this certainly _is_ an adventure._

After a while of running, Varren made it back to the ship. He was panting, out of breath once again. "At least I'm getting the work out that I desperately need," he said to himself, wearily walking towards the black saucer. Varren put his hand on it, walking around the ship once again. "Now, where on earth does this go…?" he thought aloud, observing the ship carefully.

Varren got to the side of the ship, and there he saw a chunk missing out of it. He looked at the piece he had, and saw that the chunk missing out of the ship seemed to fit the piece in his hand perfectly. Varren placed the piece back. Dark blue energy glowed from the piece as it began to fit itself back into place, the light shining brightly in Varren's eyes. The gentleman took a step back, observing the ship. "So did that do it, then?" he asked himself, staring at the dark blue light. As if the ship had heard him, the dark blue light vanished, sealing the piece in tightly. Varren chuckled. "Now that's a good way to answer," he said, walking back to where he assumed the front of the ship was.

He stared at it inquisitively. In a response, the bottom of the wall began to slide upwards, revealing the inside of the ship. What Varren saw absolutely fascinated him. There were tubes hooked up to a massive jar stuck to the wall in front of him, and inside this jar was a black ball of energy, which was spinning rapidly. On the wall to the left of him, there was a massive, black screen, along with censors which were in front of it. Above the screen seemed to be something similar to a web camera built into a laptop. To the right of him were several seats. Varren assumed that they were made for passengers, or perhaps they were built so the driver could relax while operating the machine. "Truly remarkable…" he said, awing over the area. Slowly, Varren walked into the dark saucer. He stared at the black energy ball, which was constantly spinning round and round. "What on earth is _that_ thing?" he asked himself.

Suddenly, a voice coming from the computer screen spoke. "Oose eichen. Zeir hoiatata…"

Varren blinked, startled by the sudden voice from the screen. "What language is that? Doesn't seem like any language _I've_ ever heard…"

The computer screen spoke again. "Eichen oose: English. Zeir hoiatata…"

Varren stared at the machine. "My, how fascinating," he said. "It seems to know what language I'm speaking. This machine… how on earth could it possibly know my language? It's come from a completely different world!"

In an instant, the camera above the computer screen projected a blue, see through woman in front of Varren. She was wearing a sleeveless suit of some kind, with a strange symbol tattooed on her shoulder. Her voice was monotone as she spoke. "Answer: the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN is built to contain the universe's knowledge, and is therefore built to contain all the languages within it."

Varren blinked at the projection in confusion. This machine… it answered his question like he was owner of this ship. "Who are you?" he asked, choosing his questions carefully.

"Answer: I am your guide for this ship, leader," she replied, her face emotionless.

Varren tilted his head at the guide. "Okay… why do you call me your leader?" he asked, curious as to how something that had just arrived on a new planet could instantly claim the first thing that entered as its leader.

The woman responded to his question formally. "Answer: My former instructor, who is not to be named due to his requests as such, gave me his final command of finding an intelligent soul, one which could process the universe itself. Once I found this being of intellect, he was to become my new leader."

Varren could go on asking these questions forever. There was so much that he wanted to know! "Where did you come from?"

"Answer is undefined. My former instructor was a traveler. He was searching for someone to pass this onto, an intelligent soul like him. He was doing so because he knew that his time with the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN had come to its end, as all journeys do."

"Ah, I see…" Varren looked around the area once again. His gaze fell upon the black energy ball within the jar, spinning around rapidly. He pointed at it asking, "What's that?"

"Answer: That is our power source," she stated, her voice completely emotionless.

"Well, I knew _that_ much, but what _is_ our power source?" Varren asked her, stepping closer towards the black energy.

"Answer: what you see in the jar is a fraction of a black hole."

Varren's eyes widened. "A-A black hole?" he echoed. "How on earth can this machine withstand even a portion of such a power? Is the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN so powerful that it needs something as strong as _that_ to power it?"

"Answer to question number one: as I've said, the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN is programmed to understand the universe. The universe is never ending; it's equivalent to infinity. In order to understand everything, it must have enough power to do so. A black hole has the power to destroy everything. Therefore, it is also equivalent to infinity as well. Even a portion of it would be equivalent to understanding the universe. However, it can only understand so much at one point of time; it cannot travel from one end of the universe to the other, and can only go so far in one trip before needing to 'recharge,' if you will."

"Answer to question number two," the guide continued, "the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's power often varies from person to person. I have had three leaders, or instructors, in the past, and each one of their levels of intelligence was different from the others. Based on how much information their brains could take in, and retain their sanity at the same time, that determines the strength of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. Therefore, it has no definite power."

Varren blinked, staring at the power source to the ship. "Something that has the ability to understand everything… goodness gracious… That must've taken an eternity to develop, and an even longer amount of time to have figured out how to retrieve that kind of energy source. But still… something that can handle the information of the universe itself…" Varren smiled, his eyes brightening. "Say, that reminds me a lot about myself, actually!" He clapped his hands, turning to face the guide. "Alright, I was told there was a darkness that was threatening to destroy everything, and only I could stop it. Do you know about it? If so, what is this darkness, exactly?"

The guide replied as efficiently as always, "Answer: the darkness of which you speak is an evil overlord who wishes to enslave the universe. He's already taken over three galaxies so far; he has a powerful army. His name is Darmaque."

"Darmaque, eh?" he echoed, raising an eyebrow. "Certainly not a human name…" Varren smiled, popping his neck. "Alright, let's start our adventure right away! Point me in the right direction towards this 'Darmaque,' fellow. Take me as close as you can to him in a single trip, can you do that?"

The guide dissipated, the projection vanishing away. However, her voice could still be heard. The guide said, "Yes, master Varren."

Varren smiled, his brown eyes shining in pure delight. _An adventure, a villain, a quest that I need to fulfill, planets to discover—all of this is simply fantastic!_ He stood in front of the computer screen, smiling happily as the ship began to shake and shiver. Slowly, it rose into the air. The black energy sphere spun faster than ever, and there was a mighty push in the air. In front of the ship, a wormhole opened in the air. The ship shot through the wormhole, zooming towards its new destination. Now this is what Varren called a new life.


	2. What's so Super About This World?

The CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN came to a sudden halt. Varren blinked in confusion. Had they really already arrived? That was less than five seconds at most!

The guide's projection formed in front of Varren as the same female from before. "Information: We have arrived, Varren. This is the farthest we can go with our current energy. It is unfortunate that we are required to remain here until the energy source recharges."

"Ah, so we're stuck here for now then…" Varren sighed, looking down at his feet. "Isn't that just dandy?" he said sarcastically. "We're stranded on an abandoned planet. No life sources, no electricity, no civilization—nothing."

"With all due respect, Varren, you are incorrect," the guide stated.

Confused, Varren looked up at the guide's projection. "So… you mean there's actually life here?"

"Correct," she confirmed.

"My word!" Varren marveled, placing a hand on the top of his fedora. "We've arrived on a different planet that contains actual life! How fascinating!" he shouted. Suddenly, Varren paused. "Wait a minute… if we're on a planet that has life, that means that this planet must have a name. What's this place called?"

"Scanning planet history—please wait." The projection began to grow fuzzy, as if static were on a television. Varren blinked at her, unsure if that was a good thing or not. He simply stood there though, waiting for an answer as to what this place was called. The guide responded, "Information gathered. This planet is called the 'Super Mario World,' named after the famous plumber, Super Mario, otherwise known as Mario. Strangely enough, both his first name, as well as his last name, are both Mario. His younger brother, Luigi Mario, is less famous than him. Mario's name is known throughout this entire galaxy."

"This… galaxy?" Varren echoed, amazed that someone could be that popular. "Tell me, does the galaxy we're in have a name?"

"Scanning galaxy history—please wait." Once again, the projection was filled with static as it loaded up the history of the galaxy. Varren sighed. He didn't want the entire history of this galaxy, he just wanted to know what it was called. Too late though. The projection spoke once again, "Information gathered. This galaxy, strangely enough, does not have a name, but it has been saved by Mario when the villainous Koopa King Bowser stole many of the Power Star's energies from across the galaxy for his own selfish needs. As I'm sure you can guess, the hero of this galaxy, Mario, stopped the Koopa King from taking over the galaxy, and saved it as a whole."

Varren smiled. "My," he thought aloud, "such adventurous tales! I believe that we've come to the right place!" Varren adjusted his fedora and made his way to exit the ship. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. He didn't know if he could breathe on this planet or not… He turned to the projection once again. "Computer, is the air safe to breathe?"

"Scanning planet facts—please wait." Varren rolled his eyes in annoyance. Thankfully, it didn't take nearly as long as it had before; the projection answered in an instant. "While it's true that the air is breathable, the gravity here is quite lighter than the gravity you're used to, Varren. You can jump higher than you could ever jump before. Most people can't jump very high here though; they are extremely weak."

"Huh… how strange." Varren opened the door, looking out of the ship. There was green grass everywhere, all of it was finely cut, as if done by a professional. There were many trees, all of which, for some reason, had eyes. There were clouds in the sky, which also had eyes. Lower in the air were blocks, floating somehow. Some blocks were yellow, and had white question marks on them, while others were simply made of brick. There was a path, which led to a small town directly in front of him. On this path, there was a lady in a pink dress, along with two short, strange men, wearing capes and hats that looked like mushrooms. Varren stared at the scene displayed before him. 'This is impossible,' he thought.

The two short men wearing those funny looking hats were cautiously walking towards Varren, spears drawn. The lady in the pink dress was slowly walking behind them, eager to see this new visitor. The closer the lady got, the more details Varren could work out. She had long, blonde hair, which went down to her back. Her eyes were a friendly blue, radiating love and compassion, even through her fearful state. The two short men approached Varren at last. "Who are you?" they inquired, standing in front of the woman protectively.

Varren stared at them for a moment. He knew that they were weaklings, because, as the computer said, most people here were rather weak. But, then again, they seemed to be rather important; they may be stronger than the average citizen. It would be best if he didn't pick a fight with anybody. Better to make friends than enemies. Varren smiled friendlily at them. "Greetings, kind folk," he said, taking off his hat and putting it on his chest as he gave a polite bow. "My name is Varren. I come from a different world, and I mean no harm. I've simply stopped by, that's all." He put his hat back on. His gaze fell to the woman. "Might I ask who you're protecting?"

The short man to the right said, "This is Her Highness, Princess Peach." They both simultaneously twirled their spears and flatted the wooden part of it on the ground, the point sticking upwards. "So long as you don't mean any harm, there's nothing against you. You've come to the Mushroom Kingdom, friend. This is the first time we've seen such a kind visitor in a long while."

Varren smiled at them. "Well," he said, "it's nice to know that I could make a difference in your life… If I may speak to the Princess, that would be nice."

Princess Peach stepped forward, getting in between the two short men. She did a small curtsy, politely greeting Varren. "You wanted to talk to me?" she asked, her voice soft and high pitched.

Varren couldn't help but blush at how innocent she seemed to be. He nodded. "Yes," he confirmed. "I see that you're the Princess of this, 'Mushroom Kingdom' place. I… don't have a home, in all honesty, so I was wondering if I could stay with you in your castle-assuming you have one of course."

The Princess smiled friendlily. "Yes, you can stay with me for the time being. You'd make a great new addition to my castle. You'd also be a great addition to my body guards. You can stay with me for as long as you like, Varren."

"Hold on now," said one of the men, eying Varren suspiciously. "We don't know if he's working for Bowser or not. Inviting someone we've never even heard of into the castle may not be such a smart idea. I suggest that we keep a watchful eye on him."

"Oh _posh_," Peach said. "He doesn't seem like he'd be a part of the Koopa Troop. Let's invite him inside! The poor thing doesn't have a home to return to, and we can't just leave him to wander around the streets. Who knows what could happen to him? He doesn't have a coin to his name, so he couldn't buy a house. The only option is for him to stay with me. Don't be so worrisome!"

The short man pointed at Varren briefly. "We'll be watching you…"

Peach walked closer to Varren, offering him her hand. "Come on, we'll escort you to my castle."

Varren blinked, unused to such hospitable behavior. There was also the fact that she was holding her hand out to him. He was always nervous about any hand gestures with anyone else, even if it was a simple fist bump or handshake. Still though, her hand was _royalty_! He couldn't simply disrespect her offer and refuse it… Hesitantly, Varren took hold of Peach's hand. "Lead the way, ma'am," he said politely, smiling at her. The Princess giggled slightly, walking down the path from where they came from. Varren walked with her. He gazed around the area, which included the floating blocks, as well as the trees with eyes, along with the clouds which also had eyes. The eyes… they crept him out. He was never a fan of people staring at him, and now everything was doing so. 'This is highly uncomfortable,' Varren thought. Not only was his hand being held, but millions of silent gazes were upon him. He shook his head, trying to dismiss the awkward feeling about him. "So," he said, "Your Majesty, do you have to worry about the Koopa King Bowser much at all?"

Peach nodded. "Yes," she confirmed, "Bowser has always been a problem. To this day, I can't figure out why he kidnaps me… he says he has a crush on me, and yet he locks me in a cage every time he gets his hands on me. I simply don't understand him." The Princess sighed, shaking her head. "Sometimes I think that Bowser is a lost cause…"

Varren let out a chuckle. "Well he sounds like it! Kidnapping the woman who he has a crush on—that must be a twisted way of showing his affection for you. I can assure you this much, ma'am, I would _never _do such a thing to a woman who I had feelings for. If anything, I would drown her in love to show her how much I loved her, and I would do so each and every time I got the chance to see her, not lock her in some rubbish cage and leave her to cry out for someone to save her."

"Aw," Peach cooed, "you sound sweet~ Oh, look, here we are!"

Varren tilted his head to the side upon arriving at the castle. It was massive indeed… there was a gargantuan painting of the Princess Herself in the center of the place. The gentleman smirked, adjusting his hat properly. "My-My-My, it seems as if you truly _are _royalty."

The Princess giggled, nodding her head. "Yes indeed, I'm Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom. I've been so for twenty years. This castle has withstood many attacks from Bowser's invasions, and has been through all twenty years of my time as Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom… and now, it's your new home." She turned her gaze to Varren to smile at him. "You may enter, if you wish."

Varren met her gaze, smiling back. "Yes, of course." He turned to the door, opening it slowly. In front of him, there was a red carpet, which led to a quaintly sized throne. To the left and the right of the throne were staircases which led upwards. There was a massive chandelier which hung in the center of the room. Varren smiled at the place. "You must be quite comfortable in your castle," he said, admiring the fashion.

Peach sighed, moving to sit down in her throne. "Well, on the contrary, I don't feel comfortable at all. I'm always worried that Bowser might come and kidnap me again… but… even if he does, I know that Mario will save me. I just… don't want to be kidnapped to begin with. It bothers me, y'know?"

Varren tilted his head to the side. "Mario… I've heard of that name. He's the hero of this galaxy, isn't he? And he saves you, personally?"

The Princess nodded, crossing her legs comfortably. "Yes, that's right. He's actually my boyfriend… I'm hoping that he'll become King of the Mushroom Kingdom someday…" A blush spread across her white cheeks as she let out a sigh at the mere thought of it.

Varren chuckled, though he couldn't help but feel slightly envious at the fact that the Princess had someone to love. He had nobody… but he would have to be alright with that. He began to walk around the room. "So," he began, "are there any special events going on in your castle today?"

Peach gasped, clenching both of the arms of her throne. "Oh yes, that's right! There's a party that's arranged for today! It should be really soon!" Her gaze turned to Varren, smiling at him friendlily. "You can attend the party too!"

Varren cringed at the sound of it. "I, uh, no thank you," he simply stated. "I'm… not really comfortable in large crowds. They make me nervous."

"Oh _posh_," the Princess said. "The crowd won't be that large; you don't need to worry yourself. I just invited some people from the Bean-Bean Kingdom, that's all. Oh, and of course, I also invited the Super Mario Brothers, Mario and Luigi!"

Varren blinked. There was that word again. 'Super.' What was so _'super'_ about this world? 'Super Mario World,' 'Super Mario Brothers,' what next could it be? Why did everything have to be so… _'super'_? He tried to ignore the fact that the same adjective was being used again and again, so he said, "Well, so long as the crowds won't be that large, I suppose that I could attend. After all, I don't suppose I have much of a choice. This castle is my new home, after all."

Peach smiled. "That's the spirit, Varren!" Suddenly, there was a knock on the castle's door. "Oh! That must be the first visitor! I wonder who it could be?" She waved her hand. "Guards, please open the door. Welcome our guests!" On the command, more of those small people wearing those mushroom caps walked down from the staircase and opened up the door.

Varren watched the small men. "What do you call them…?" he whispered to the Princess, not wanting to disrespect the people around her.

"They're called Toads, Varren," she said, holding back a giggle of how oblivious Varren seemed to be about them. "They're the Mushroom Kingdom's most famous citizens. Along with them are Goombas and Koopas who have driven away from the Koopa Troop."

"Hm…" Varren looked at the guests who were stepping into the castle. Most of them were regular sized, unlike the Toads. Also unlike the Toads, their skin was green. Varren's gaze traveled amongst them. Four of the guests were wearing black cloaks. 'How strange…' Varren thought, eying them suspiciously. He nudged the Princess's shoulder. "Your Majesty, I see that there are some shady figures among us. Are you quite certain that _all _of these people are trustworthy?"

Peach nodded. "Yes, yes, don't worry. They're just shy about their appearances, just like the Shy Guys around this place. If they don't want to show their faces, that's their opinion."

Varren couldn't argue with the Princess. After all, she obviously knew more about the fashion sense better than he did. This was an entire new _planet_, for goodness' sake! He had no other choice but to trust her word. "If you're certain," he said, reluctantly agreeing with her.

"Oh, Varren," Peach said, tapping Varren's shoulder. "Do you see that lever on the wall? Just to the left of my throne?"

Varren looked around to the left of her throne, as instructed. He was never good at finding things when someone simply pointed at it. He searched around the wall. "Um… I'm afraid I don't, ma'am."

She pointed at it more specifically. "Okay, just walk over there, and you'll find it. It's right next to the staircase."

Hesitantly, Varren walked over to the left wall, looking around the staircase. Sure enough, he saw a red lever, exactly where she said it would be. "Ah, there you are." He pulled the lever. In an instant, the lights went out; he couldn't see a thing. He could hear scuffling of feet, and some… spacey noise, almost as if it was an engine toned in a high pitch. Slowly, the lights began to turn back on, but they were all dim.

He looked around the area, curious as to what had happened. To his surprise, nothing seemed to have changed. The people of the Bean-Bean Kingdom were looking at the cloaked figured rather strangely though, as if they'd become monsters or something to that affect. The Princess was still calmly sitting in her throne. She had a warm smile, as always. Varren observed Princess Peach cautiously. She didn't seem to be phased in the slightest by those noises, or by the fact that the lights went out for a moment. Peach noticed Varren staring at her. She giggled. "It's not polite to stare, Varren," she said playfully, her voice soft as ever.

Hesitantly, Varren eased his gaze away from the Princess to look back at the crowd of visitors. 'Wait a moment,' he thought, staring at the cloaked figures. There were only three of them… Four had entered the castle. He walked over to Princess Peach, eying the guests cautiously. "Be careful, Your Majesty," he whispered to her. "I believe that one of our guests has gone missing… I suspect those noises indicated teleportation. It's likely that he's somewhere snooping around in your castle, possibly trying to steal something. I suggest that you let guards scout the area."

"My," the blonde Princess awed, staring at them. "You're right, Varren, there are only three now. Good eye! I'll be sure to send guards to search the castle." She waved her hand to the guards who were still at the main entrance of the castle. "Guards, if you could, please look around the castle and check for anyone wearing a black cloak. If you find him, combat him, and arrest him, but _only _if you catch him doing something he's not supposed to do."

The guard's saluted. "Yes, ma'am!" they said simultaneously. All the Toads marched up the stairs. Half a dozen went to the left, and the other half went to the right. They opened the doors that led to the rest of the castle, trudging off to find the cloaked figure.

Varren couldn't help but feel safer, now that they were searching for the potential problem. He turned his attention towards the guests who'd come from the Bean-Bean Kingdom. He walked up to them, smiling at them friendlily. "Welcome to Princess Peach's party, friends. I'm unsure as to where the beverages are located, so please, if you have any questions, be sure to ask the Princess Herself if you're thirsty. My name is Varren, and I'll attempt to be your host for this party. If you have a complaint with the party, please, come to me, and I'll do the best I can to fix the problem." Varren looked upwards at the dimmed lights. "I couldn't answer your questions if they revolved around why the lights went out though, so please forgive my inability to meet every one of your consciousness's needs." He bowed politely at the guests. "Make yourself at home." As if on cue, a rectangular portion of the floor opened up. A small bar, along with a Toad, his mushroom hat black, the dots red, rose from the hole in the floor to cover it up. On the right side of the room, the walls flipped over. On the other side of the walls revealed seemingly cozy, red couches. The chandelier began to glow a dark blue, the dimmed lights turning off completely, letting the chandelier light the place. It shifted in colors from dark blue, to dark purple, dark red—all of the colors were shaded darkly. The green-skinned guests marveled at the sudden change of the place. There was a quiet murmur among the crowd as they conversed with each other. Some of them talked about how the place was beautifully decorated, others talked about how interesting it was that the newfound objects appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The three cloaked figures, however, were motionless. They simply stood next to each other, side by side, unmoving. Varren eyed the cloaked figures suspiciously once again, unsure if they were as friendly as the Princess claimed they were. 'Hopefully they won't be up to any mischief…' he thought.

The sound of the doors opening drew Varren's attention away from the cloaked figures. This time, only two people entered. One was dressed in a red shirt, overalls, and a red hat. The red hat had an _M_ which was surrounded by a white circle. He had a massive moustache, which was rather unkempt. He was the shorter one. The other one, dressed in green, had almost exactly the same clothing as the red one, only instead of an M on his green hat, there was an _L_. His moustache looked like it was better taken care of, even though it was equally massive to the shorter one's.

Peach waved at them happily. "Mario! Luigi! Come in, my special guests!"

The one dressed in red, assumingly Mario, smiled at Peach's enthusiasm, giving a cheerful thumbs-up. "Okie-dokie!" he said, walking inside the castle. The taller one dressed in green, who Varren guessed was Luigi, walked into the castle as well, following right behind his brother's footsteps.

"So those two are the famous 'Super Mario Brothers' that I've heard so much about…" Varren mumbled to himself, gazing at the two brothers. "The heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom… Mario Mario and Luigi Mario… two of a kind…"

Mario walked up to Princess Peach, who kissed his cheek quickly. The red plumber blushed lightly, laughing quietly as he scratched the back of his head. Luigi stood next to Mario, gazing at Peach expectantly. The poor thing wanted a kiss on the cheek too. Instead of kissing his cheek, the Princess simply bowed her head politely, as if honoring his presence. Luigi looked down in disappointment. "D'ohhh," he moaned in complaint. Mario and Princess Peach both shared a small laugh at Luigi's defeat.

Varren couldn't help but let out a chuckle. These brothers seemed to be rather nice, now that he got a good look at them. Varren decided to walk over to the Mario Brothers to give them a nice conversation. He walked behind Mario, tapping his shoulder. "Excuse me, sir," he said, trying to get the red plumber's attention.

Mario turned around, looking at Varren. "Eh? Mama mia, I've-a never seen _you _before. What's-a your name?"

Peach answered the question for Mario. "Oh, you haven't met him yet. This is Varren. He came out of a spaceship; he's most likely from a different world! Don't worry though, he's a really nice person. I've let him stay with me, since he's, well… homeless. He doesn't have a coin to his name!"

Mario blinked, his gaze turning to Peach, then to Varren again. "Mama mia," he repeated, "not a single coin? My, you _really _must-a be poor. I'm-a glad that Peach took you into her care." The red plumber smiled friendlily at Varren.

The gentleman tipped his fedora at him. "Thank you for your concern, Mario, but I can assure you that I'll be leaving here quite soon. You needn't worry about my homelessness. I'm a traveler, you see."

"Ooo, a traveler!" Mario echoed. "I'm a traveler myself, actually! I've-a explored the entire galaxy, if you can believe it!"

Varren nodded, smiling at Mario. "Ah yes, so I've heard…" He bowed politely as he put his hat on his chest. "Well, Mario, it's been great to meet your acquaintance, but I'm afraid that I must go and attend to the other guests. There was a rather… disturbing incident that happened while you were gone. The lights went off, you see, and when they came back on, one of the cloaked figures that you see over there had vanished. We fear that he may be snooping around the castle, stealing things he ought not touch."

Mario's eyes widened, showing complete concern. "What about Peach? Is-a she okay?"

Varren nodded, looking to the Princess. "Why, yes, I believe so. She didn't move from her seat when the lights came back on… Although, I did hear a strange noise before I could see again…" The gentleman gazed into Peach's eyes. Something was different about them… They weren't friendly like they were in the past. Now they were condescending, cocky and judgmental, like she thought that everyone around her was a simple pawn, and that she was the superior one among all of them. He tilted his head to the side at the Princess. "Your Majesty… you seem different…" he said quietly.

Peach gazed at Varren questioningly. "What? No, no, I feel just the same."

Varren continued to stare at Princess Peach. "You're sure about that...? You seem… kind of…" his voice trailed off as memories flashed before his eyes. When he had first gazed into the Princess's eyes, he felt warmth of kindness and love. But now... he could only feel a cold aura. It was as if he could somehow indicate the difference in personality from person to person… But that would mean that this Princess… wasn't Princess Peach at all… His eyes widened. He didn't know if this feeling he had was certain or not, but he acted on instinct, which relied fully on the difference in her eyes. "Imposter!" he shouted, pointing at her accusingly.

"Mama mia!" Mario cried, staring at the Princess in shock.

"Whaaa!" Luigi yelled, pulling his hat over his eyes.

The group from the Bean-Bean Kingdom all stopped speaking with each other to stare at Peach along with Mario. The figures in cloaks slowly turned their gaze towards Varren. In the same slow manner, Peach tilted her head to the side. "What? I'm… I'm not an imposter. It's me, Princess Peach."

"Don't play coy with me!" Varren shouted, stepping forward bravely. "You're not the real Princess! Who are you!?"

'Peach' smirked at Varren. She spoke with the voice of a male. "I guess you're not as stupid as you look." Suddenly, the same spacey noise that Varren heard when the lights went out returned, and the imposter began to change shape. He transformed from a beautiful woman to the skeleton of a humanoid turtle. In his shell, there was a wand. He drew his wand, pointing it at the Mario Brothers. "Minions, come forth!" In that instant, the cloaked figures leaped high into the air, ripping out of their cloaks to reveal that they, too, were the skeletons of humanoid turtles. The three minions landed next to the original, forming a group of undead, anthropomorphic turtles. "Dry Bone Squad," he shouted with authority, "kill the Super Mario Brothers!"


	3. Time to Save the Princess

Varren starred at the scene that had displayed before him. Skeletons of anthropomorphic turtles were threatening the Super Mario Brothers? Did they have to go through this on a regular basis? My, how strange this planet was. Despite how strange thing seemed to be, the plumbers of red and green seemed to take it very seriously.

They had a reason to. In an instant, three of the four skeletons raced towards the Mario Brothers. Varren looked at the leader of them all to see that he was supposedly charging up some sort of magical attack. Time seemed to slow down to Varren as thoughts ran through his mind in a lightning speed. Their opponents were undead, which means that they can't be killed. However, they can be broken over time, after an excessive amount of battering the body. In time, the energy that holds the bones together will wear off, and they will become useless. However, that would take far too long. Ingenious to stall the Mario Brothers with such a tactic, but whoever planned this obviously didn't expect _him_ to be there. He could use this to his advantage, but how? The Princess had been kidnapped, which means the Mario Bros. had to make their way to her destination as soon as possible. He figured that they knew where she'd be located, which means the only _true_ problem happened to be the skeletons. He turned to the two plumbers. "Get out of here!" he shouted. "I'll hold them off!" Mario shook his head, unwilling to leave Varren to fight off all these foes singlehandedly. Varren glared at the red plumber. "If you want to save your Princess, then get out of here _now_!"

Mario stared at Varren, reluctant in leaving him behind. Luigi, however, wasn't so hesitant in the idea of running away from combat. He fled out of the castle before Mario even had a chance to turn around. The red plumber heard his younger brother slam the castle gates on his way out; he let out a sigh in frustration. "Luigi!" he shouted, running after his brother.

Quickly, the skeletons ran for the door, trying to stop the two plumbers from escaping. However, Varren was equally quick. He speedily ran in front of the door, barricading it for the brothers. "You will _not_ attempt to follow them!" he ordered, as if leader of them.

"Hah!" the leader cackled, walking to the back of the horde of skeletons. "What makes you think you can make a difference in time for them? We'll beat you in a flash! It's a battle of four to one! You're done for if you try and take us all down on your own, given your strength!"

Varren knew what the creature said was true. He didn't stand a chance… he didn't have an idea as to how to combat a foe. "Before you kill me, I have a question to ask of you," he said, buying as much time as he could.

"Very well," the leader of the Dry Bone Squad said, folding his arms. "What is it?"

"What are you things… called, exactly?" the gentleman asked, tilting his head to the side. "Not to be rude, of course, but I'm actually new to this planet. I've never seen creatures like you before…"

The leader chuckled. "That's a stupid final question, but if you must know, we're called Dry Bones. We're magically held together by the wills of our spirits. There's no way you can kill us…" He took his wand from his shell to toss it up in the air. "These puny weaklings are held together by magic though; they don't have names." He caught the wand, then pointed it at Varren. "As for me, _my_ name is Skull!"

Varren nodded slowly. "Quite the name…" Hesitantly, he braced himself. "My name's Varren…"

"Well, Varren," Skull said, putting his wand to the side, "it's been nice knowin' ya! Dry Bones, attack!" he commanded.

Acting on orders, the three Dry Bone minions mindlessly charged at Varren. His eyes widened, but he got in a defensive stance, ready to protect himself. Surprisingly, charging directly at him wasn't their goal. They split up into a circle, surrounding Varren. The gentleman looked at them cautiously, taking the possibilities of where they would attack him first. He soon got his answer. The Dry Bones in the middle of the circle rushed towards him, ripping off his own skeletal arm to use it as a weapon. Varren clenched his fists in preparation. 'Here we go!' The Dry Bones swung his weapon at Varren, who dodged by stepping back slightly. Varren punched at the Dry Bone's face. In turn, the skull knocked right off the minion's shoulders. Taking this opportunity, Varren kicked the body that remained in the dead center of the chest, making the skeleton collapse into a pile of bones. The other two came from both the left, as well as the right. The one from the left punched at Varren's jaw, but, acting on instinct, he quickly ducked under the attack. The other Dry Bones from the right grabbed hold of Varren's hand. The Dry Bones that had just attempted to punch Varren took this opening to grab Varren's left arm, while the other one began to clench onto Varren's entire right arm, rather than just his hand. He was being held down. What did they expect to accomplish? Varren soon found out. The pile of bones from when he knocked aside the first Dry Bones began to shake on the ground. Slowly, it formed back into a skeleton of an anthropomorphic turtle. It took off its own arm again, then ran towards Varren while he was being held down. Varren struggled, trying to break free from their grasps, but it was to no avail. The Dry Bones whacked Varren hard upside the head. For a moment, he lost awareness of his surroundings! He didn't think that something with no muscles could hit that hard. Desperate to fight back, Varren jumped up off of the ground, then held his feet in the air, using the other two Dry Bones as supports to hold him up. He doubled kicked at the attacker, sending his bones scattering across the area. The minions who were holding him up were unable to support his full weight; they crashed on the ground as well, simply falling apart. Varren blinked, looking at the piles of bones all around him. He never thought that it would be so easy...

Skull clapped his boney hands. "Well," he said, "I guess you're not as weak as you look. Not many people can take out all three Dry Bones at the same time…" He glared at the piles of bones. "Now that they're useless, I might as well tell you that getting all of them out at the same time is their weakness… it's a backfire of the spell that holds them together." Skull's gaze turned from the bones to Varren. "But hey, you didn't think that that was the last trick up my sleeve, didja?"

Varren was too exhausted to bother asking what his question was formally, so he simply asked, "What on earth are you babbling about now?"

Skull chuckled villainously, holding his arms up to the sky. "_This_ is what I'm talkin' about, baby!" The wand in his shell began to glow, releasing magical energies throughout the room. The bones began shaking once more. Varren sighed in annoyance, assuming that they would simply get their forms back again. However, that wasn't the case. The piles of bones all surrounded Skull, twirling around him like a tornado. Varren tilted his head to the side in confusion, staring at the scene that was taking place in front of him. The bones surrounding Skull completely glued themselves onto him, giving him deadly skeleton armor. The three skulls of the Dry Bones morphed together, acting as a shield. The three ribcages formed together on Skull's head, acting as a helmet. Finally, the three arms all molded together to form a massive club. The rest of the remaining bones simply covered his body in protection. "Say hello to Super Skull!" he bellowed.

Varren stared at Skull in awe. How on earth was he supposed to defeat something as menacing as _that_? It seemed impossible! Skull had a shield, a weapon, armor, and what did Varren have? Nothing, that's what. Varren had absolutely nothing to defend himself with. Judging by the armor, Varren could tell that he was going to be much sturdier than the Dry Bones that had fallen before him only moments ago. He began to consider his options. He could go and flee the battle to return to the Mario Brothers, but then Skull would follow him, and that would only bring more trouble to the two plumbers. He could lead Skull into a trap of some sort, but what? Varren's eyes widened, a plan beginning to form in his mind in lightning speed. It would take a great amount of force to destroy Skull's body at this point, and Varren didn't have that kind of force, or at least, not by normal means. That meant that he would have to use his surroundings to his advantage. He looked up the stairs. Up. He needed to go upwards, to the top of the castle. The only thing that had enough force to destroy Skull in this situation was gravity, and by gummies he was going to use it. Quickly, Varren bolted upstairs.

Skull jumped upstairs as well, landing in front of the strategist. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted. "You can't run from me!" Varren zipped in between Skull's legs, going into a door. The room he was in was fairly big, but just in front of him was another set of stairs, which was exactly what he was looking for. Varren ran as quickly as he could upstairs. Skull broke through the wooden door chasing after Varren. "Get back here, you pathetic little coward!" he commanded. Skull jumped upwards, trying to land in front of Varren yet again. However, the clever gentleman simply stopped dead in his tracks. Skull landed in front of him with a thud. As soon as he made impact, there was a massive crack in the ground; Varren smirked, beginning to grow confident in his plan. Just as quickly as his smirk came, it left him. How on earth was he supposed to continue his way upstairs now? He had to think fast once more! Memories raced through his mind. The guide had said that gravity here was nothing compared to the gravity back in his homeland… therefore, he should be able to jump higher! Taking the idea in a heartbeat, Varren jumped over Skull, who turned around to face Varren once again. "Dammit, quit running!" the elite Dry Bones shouted. Varren chuckled, running up the next flight of stairs, arriving at the third and final floor of the castle. Skull, as predicted, jumped up the stairs, then landed in front of Varren. Once again, as soon as he made impact, a massive crack formed on the stone floor. This was the final flight; there was nowhere else to run. "Gotcha!" Skull shouted.

Varren was panting, completely out of breath. Still though, despite his exhaustion, he smirked cockily at Skull. "You sure about that?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Skull inquired, growing confused and frustrated. "There's nowhere else for you to run, and we _both_ know that you can't take me on in a battle! You're done here, pal!"

In between breaths, Varren said, "Oh really?" He chuckled, his smirk enlarging into a grin. "Do you know where exactly 'here' is? This is the top floor, Skull."

"Yeah, what of it!?" the massive Dry Bones shouted, stomping on the ground angrily.

Varren shook his head, still smiling at Skull. "I'm not sure you do, so let me explain it to you. Skull, you're on the top floor of the castle. Gaining all of that armor on you really must've drastically increased your weight, not to mention the density of your new bones. Since this is the case, your weight is even _further_ increased." Varren looked down at the ground, still panting. "You may not have known it, Skull, but these stone floors aren't as thick as you are. We're practically walking on glass, in fact."

Skull glared at Varren. "You're bluffing," he whispered coldly. "You couldn't possibly know that."

Varren's gaze traveled from the ground to Skull himself. "Quite the contrary, my friend, I actually noticed as much when you first jumped directly in front of me. The floors cracked under your weight." He looked up at the sky in thought. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't have said that _we're_ basically walking on glass, because I'm much lighter than you are." He smirked, gazing into Skull's eyes confidently. "So really, you're the only one in danger here…" Skull's eyes widened. He looked down to his feet to see that there was a massive crack that spread all across the floor. He gazed at Varren in fear, shaking his head slowly as if to plead for mercy. Varren only met his fearful gaze with a confident smirk. "Well-Well-Well, look what it's come down to… It seems as if you've died long ago. What you said about how your wills bound your body and spirit together—I have a feeling that it was a lie… You're held together by magic just like them, aren't you? Well then… you should've already been dead long ago, isn't that the case, Skull?" Varren chuckled, folding his arms. "In which case… I'm giving you a proper burial…" The intellectual gentleman took in a deep breath of air, then let out a shout. His voice echoed throughout the room, the sound waves bouncing back and forth momentarily. The sound waves were all that was needed to do the finishing trick. The ground crumbled beneath Skull's feet, and he fell straight downward. The desperate skeleton attempted to grab hold of part of the tiny bit of the remaining floor, but that simply crumbled away as well, and he was sent plummeting down to the ground. He crashed through the second floor, then landed on the first, massive amounts of stone burying his now useless body.

Varren gazed down upon where Skull had landed. There was a cold look in his eyes. "You fool… even if someone had offered you the gift if immortality, you should never have taken up on it. You should've stayed dead… Everyone must die eventually. To try and avoid that is simply idiotic…" He let out a tsk, then walked downstairs to the first floor yet again. "Now to go and help out the Mario Brothers…" He opened the door that led outside. Calmly, he walked down the path that he came from. "If only I had my guide here… I'd ask her to-"

The blue projection of that same female appeared in front of Varren. "You called for me, master?"

Varren blinked. He looked around the area. "How on earth did you know…?"

"One does not simply leave the master unattended," the guide responded. "I am at your service."

Varren smirked at the guide's loyalty. "I'm very glad that you're always there for me! Well… I was wondering if you could be so kind as to locate the Super Mario Brothers for me. They're actually going to find the Princess of this kingdom… and I was going to help them in their quest."

"As you wish, master," she politely replied. "Locating the Mario Brothers—please wait…" Varren sighed, tapping his foot impatiently. The last thing he wanted to do was wait for some computer to load, but it seemed as if he had no choice. He wanted to save Princess Peach with Mario… it was a perfectly good opportunity for adventure! Suddenly, the guide spoke. "Location found. The Super Mario Brothers are positioned at Bowser's Castle, which is placed directly ahead of the Mushroom Kingdom."

Varren smiled at the guide. "Great, thank you for your help. I don't know what I'd do without you." With the information as to where the Mario Bros. were at hand, he broke off into a sprint, running outside of the Mushroom Kingdom. There was no time to lose! He ran passed the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, which was still on the path where he'd left it, and he ran passed the entry gates. He didn't bother to stop there. He was panting furiously, but he was determined. He noticed that, the more he went into this direction, the more the finely cut green grass was beginning to die around him. He ignored the gloomy aura about this place, and he sprinted onwards. He saw a draw bridge that was opened, and below which was a moat of lava. He jolted across the bridge. In the distance, he saw what appeared to be a castle. There was a strange face surrounding the gate though. The closer her got, the easier it was to tell that the face stone face surrounding the gate looked like it was that of a dragon. Most _certainly_ intimidating to him, but Varren didn't lose his determination. He couldn't take much more of this physically though. He felt like he was about to explode from the inside out. He slowed down, resting against a dead tree as he looked up at the gates which loomed high above his head. "My," he thought aloud, panting still, "such a morbid sense of fashion…"

Suddenly, a strange feeling shot through Varren's body. It wasn't a feeling of pain, but… it was a feeling of a strange desire. A want to move again… a want to go into the castle. It was as if something was beckoning him to go into this place… but why? After regaining his breath, Varren slowly walked to the castle. What could this feeling be…? He opened the doors to see there were many anthropomorphic turtles sprawled out across the ground, completely unconscious. Some of them were wearing armor, and even stranger, some of them had _wings_! Varren couldn't be puzzled by these new forms of life though… the calling was simply too great. Slowly, he marched onwards. In front of him was a staircase leading upwards. He walked up the stairs. Varren looked around the area to see that there was another opening to the left of him. He walked into the opening, on to the next room. To greet him were more unconscious figures… they looked sort of like mushrooms, but with feet and faces. Still though… that calling was too great for him to be fascinated by the new figures. He cautiously walked onwards, glancing around the area. In front of him was yet another open gate.

He walked through it, which led him to the room containing the Mario Brothers. They were both panting, out of breath. Varren could tell that they were beaten and bruised. Luigi was barely standing, and Mario's overall strap was torn. Varren's gaze traveled to the rest of the room. In a massive throne, a large, humanoid dragon, with a spikey green shell was tapping his pointy claws on the arms of his chair, his fiendish eyes sparkling with amusement. The beat wore a necklace, the main jewel of which was a blue crystal. He was smiling villainously, revealing his razor sharp teeth. "I never even _dreamed_ it would be this easy!" bellowed the monster, his voice echoing across the room. "The mighty Super Mario Brothers defeated without even laying a finger on me! What a joke!" Suddenly, he noticed Varren had entered the room. "Hm?" The creature's gaze fell upon Varren as he stared at him in confusion. "Who are you?" Varren stared at the jewel on the beast's necklace. That was the source of the calling… the desire… He needed to have that necklace. His craving for it was psychologically unbearable! "Hey!" shouted the monster, "I asked you a question, punk!"

Varren shook his head, trying to snap himself out of the spell that crystal seemed to have put on him. "My name is Varren… I have come to help Mario and his younger brother in their quest to free the Princess! Now, if you don't mind, I have a question of my own. Would you care to hear it?"

The titanic beast rolled his eyes in annoyance. "This ain't a wedding party. You ask me the question, and I'll kill you afterwards, along with the Mario Bros."

Varren tilted his head to the side, staring at him. "What is your name? Would you happen to be Bowser, the Koopa King?"

The malevolent creature nodded his head. "Yeah, that's me."

Varren's eyes widened. This was Mario's arch enemy! He looked at Mario, who returned the gaze. By the looks of things, Mario and Luigi were losing pretty badly… this wasn't supposed to happen. It was obvious that Bowser had had some help from something or someone, but from where? Varren looked back at Bowser to see the necklace once again. That necklace… did it contain energy? Yes, yes, that had to be it! Bowser was abusing this newfound energy source to be rid of the Mario Brothers! Varren took in a deep breath. He had to act calm and natural. It was time for him to put his cunning to the test. He placed his hand on his chest as he gave a polite bow. "Greetings, Your Majesty. Please excuse me. I hadn't realized that I was speaking to you in such a tone. By all means, keep the Princess if you'd like. The Mario Bros. are powerless before you; there's nobody to stop you… She's all yours."

Mario looked at Varren in complete and utter shock. "Varren! What's-a wrong with you!?" he cried.

Varren glared at Mario with false annoyance. "Silence, you whelp! I'm addressing the King, not you…" Varren looked to Bowser once more. "My Liege," he said politely, "I would be more than honored if you were to take me by your side as your humble servant. I can promise you that I wouldn't let you down in the slightest. I'm a rather cunning mind, as well."

Bowser chuckled, smiling malevolently at Varren. "Now _that's_ what I'd like to hear! Yeah, my kingdom could use a few smart people. Glad you could do the right thing and join me in my quest to take over the Mushroom Kingdom!"

Varren smiled, putting his hat back on his head. "So long as you're happy, Your Majesty, that's all that matters." Slowly, he walked over to Bowser. "Might I ask where you got that necklace from? You seem to be quite the fan of it…"

"Huh, oh this old thing?" said the massive Koopa King, taking the necklace in his hand to look at it. "Well, I found it in Cheap-Cheap Ocean. And when I say _I_, I mean my scouts. They brought it back to the castle and tried to keep it for themselves, the selfish jerks. So I ordered 'em to hand it over to me! Then I figured out that it had boatloads of magical powers in here! I actually used it to wipe those pesky plumbers off their feet in just a few simple waves of my hand."

Varren gazed deeply into the crystal on the necklace. The calling… the _calling_… It was getting stronger… He stared at the jewel, his mind scrambling away from the plan. All he could think about was the jewel. 'Such power…' he thought, staring at the jewel in a hypnotic state. To snap him out of it was the blue crystal itself! A massive wave of dark blue energy rocketed from the crystal directly into Varren; the gentleman was forced backwards. He landed flat on his back. Varren stared at the ceiling in shock. 'Well that wasn't part of the plan,' he thought, taken aback by what had just happened. What… _had_ just happened? He didn't know… but for some reason, he felt stronger.

Bowser stared at Varren. "What did you do?" Beginning to panic, Bowser attempted to control the energy that was in the blue crystal once again, only to find that there was none left. It had all been converted into Varren. "What did you do!?" he repeated, slamming his fist on the arm of his throne in a fit of rage.

Varren smiled, standing up. "Well, in all honesty, I'm not quite sure what it is that I've done. However, I'm certainly sure that I rather enjoy the results. Oh, and, don't think about asking for the energy back, Lord Bowser. You'd have found in the future that I was never on your side to begin with anyways." Varren turned to Mario, offering him his hand. "Mario, come. Let's defeat your classical enemy."

Mario smiled, taking Varren's hand. "I knew that I could-a count on you. You really do have a heart of gold." Mario's smile faded, and he looked at Bowser with a determined gaze. "Let's-a go!"

Luigi sprung up to his feet, somehow gaining his strength back. "Just what I needed!" he exclaimed. Mario smirked at his younger brother's comment. Luigi took a step forward, adjusting his hat rightly. "Okie-dokie, Mario!"

Varren couldn't help but chuckle at their enthusiasm. Always so wholehearted, even in something like this. 'My,' he thought, 'that certainly takes dedication.' He looked at Bowser with newfound resolve, feeling the passionate aura the two siblings shared. He got in a fighting stance. "Come on, Koopa King!"

Bowser roared angrily, jolting up from his throne. He exhaled a massive beam of fire at the three of them. Mario and Luigi jumped out of the way in opposite directions. Time slowed down for Varren as he began to think of what he should do, and what he was going to do afterwards. He couldn't just jump straight down the middle, otherwise that would make him the main target. However, he _had_ gained some sort of power when the energy that went into the crystal moved into him. Still though, this was the King of Koopas he was dealing with, not someone to be taken lightly. He needed to avoid being the center of attack. So then what should he do? Mario. Mario has taken care of Bowser time and time again; he obviously knows how to handle himself in this situation. Luigi, what about Luigi? Luigi was weakened from the battle when Varren first came in, but now he seems perfectly fine, leaving Mario as the weakest person in the room. While it's true that he had the most experience, he couldn't safely assure victory at his current level of strength. He needed backup.

Varren reached a conclusion. He jumped out of the way from the flames, over to where Mario had gone. The red plumber landed on the ground, then skidded off towards Bowser himself. Varren ran directly next to him, ready for protection. Luigi, on the other hand, was simply in a squatting position on the other side of the room. What on earth was he doing? He didn't have time to worry about that. Bowser was already in front of him, as well as Mario. The gargantuan king slashed his claws down upon Varren. "Betray me, will ya!?" To interrupt the Koopa's assault was Mario, sending a sock to the gut to the massive turtle. The wind was knocked out of Bowser, but that didn't stop him. He clenched at Mario's fist, readying to throw the red plumber. However, just before he had the chance, Luigi somehow rocketed himself forward. He was flying headfirst to Bowser, acting like a missile. The green plumber's temple connected fiercely with Bowser's jaw, and the mighty Koopa King was sent spiraling backwards. He crashed into the wall, then landed on the ground. He clenched the ground angrily, growling at the three of them. "You think that'll stop me, the King of all Koopas!?" he thundered. He crawled on all-fours like the true monster he was. He roared like a sea serpent as he exhaled another blast of fire in their direction.

Mario jumped in the way of the blast this time, rather than avoiding it. Varren stared at Mario in shock. Was he planning to take the hit for them? They could simply dodge! Out of nowhere, Mario summoned a yellow cape to his side. He flapped his cape to the side, and, as if effortlessly, the mighty blast that Bowser had conjured was directed back at him! Bowser's eyes widened. "Oh shi-" The mighty Koopa King was struck with his own massive ball of fire, slamming him against the wall once more. He wasn't on fire, but the sweat on his scales was steaming, just as the saliva in his mouth. Bowser collapsed on the ground, unable to stand again. "I'll get you pesky plumbers… ugh…" he closed his eyes, drifting into unconsciousness.

Varren blinked. He stared at Mario in astonishment. He truly _was_ the expert in defeating Bowser. He walked over to Mario, smiling at him victoriously. "We've defeated him…" he mumbled quietly.

Mario smiled back at him, nodding. "Mhm!"

Suddenly, Varren realized that they'd never saved the Princess; his smile faded. He looked around the area worriedly. "Where's Princess Peach?"

As if to answer his question, a harp began to play. A hole quietly formed in the ceiling, fading into existence. Descending from the hole was none other than the Princess Herself, in all her majesty. She wasn't holding onto any rope, there were no strings, no trickery… she was slowly floating down to the ground, her eyes closed all the while, as if she was under some sort of spell. Her feet gently touched the ground. Princess Peach opened her soft blue eyes to give an equally soft gaze to Mario. She bent over slightly to give the red plumber a dazzling kiss on the cheek. Mario blushed just as dark of a red as his hat. Varren smiled at the two of them… it was nice to see two people in love with each other at such a great scale. The harp's music gently began to fade away. Mario picked up the Princess bridal style, holding her close.

Varren looked to Luigi, only to see that _his_ gaze wasn't filled with adoration for the love in this couple, but with envy. He could guess why. Varren walked over to Luigi, placing a hand on his shoulder. "One day…" he promised the younger brother.

Luigi picked up the message that Varren was trying to communicate. He smiled, nodding his head. "Yeah… one of these-a days, I'll have a girlfriend too…"

Varren returned Luigi's smile, then looked back to Mario. "Well," he said, "I believe that my work on this world is quite finished. I should say thank you, Mario, and you too, Luigi, for giving me such an amazing adventure." He smiled at Princess Peach, tipping his fedora hat to her. "And, my lady, I especially thank you for inviting me to your castle to begin with. I've certainly have had quite the amazing time."

Peach looked at Varren pleadingly. "Oh, but do you have to go so soon? It hasn't even been an entire day since you've gotten here! Please, stay a bit longer. We'd be honored here in the Mushroom Kingdom to have you."

Varren smiled warmly at Peach's kindness. 'Such holiness… she reminds me of my sister…' The gentleman put his hat on his chest and gave a bow to the Princess. "A thousand thank you's, Your Majesty, but in all honesty, I really must be going. The only reason I came here was to defeat a source of evil… Something greater than Bowser, or anything this galaxy has ever seen."

Mario tipped his hat at Varren, smiling cheerily at him. "Hey, Varren, don't-a worry about that evil that you're worried about. I'm-a on your side! No evil has stood up to me for long! It's-a me, Mario!"

Varren chuckled lightly at the enthusiasm of the eldest Mario Brother. "Yes, yes, of course. If I ever need any backup, you'll be the first man I go to, Mario." He put his fedora back on to tip his own hat to Mario in return. "Thank you all for being so hospitable to me, everybody. It truly has been an honor getting to know you all. I will never forget you." With that, Varren began to walk out of the room.

"H-Hold on," Luigi called after him. Varren stopped in his tracks to turn half way around. He gazed at Luigi questioningly. Timidly, the green plumber said, "Before you go, I'd-a like you to help-a me out with my relationship problems… There's-a this girl who I've-a got my eye on… She's perfect, but-"

"Luigi," Varren interrupted. This time it was Luigi's turn to look at Varren in a questioning manner. The gentleman smiled at the younger Mario Bro. "I'm going to say a single word to you about your relationship problem… I want you to remember this word, and use it to motivate yourself when you're talking to this woman who you have feelings for… Understand?" Luigi nodded, listening intently. "Good… The word is… passion."

Luigi stared at Varren in confusion. "Passion?" he echoed.

Varren smiled at the green plumber. "You heard me right, Luigi… That's all I have to say about that matter." He turned back around to walk out of room, then he made his way out of the castle.

He walked down the path he'd come from, making for his destination: the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. 'I've truly gone on quite the remarkable adventure,' he thought to himself, smiling in accomplishment. 'I saved a damsel in distress, defeated an evil monster with my quick wits, slayed an evil beast… I can truly say that I've done quite enough in this world.' Varren got to his ship in seemingly no time at all. He smiled at the black saucer, putting his hand on it gently. 'This machine is what led me to this place… such a beautiful device.' The bottom bit of a fraction of the wall slid upwards, allowing Varren to walk inside. He smiled, returning to the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. When the wall went down again, his smile faded, and was replaced with a serious look. "Guide, come, I need you," he beckoned.

The familiar, female blue projection formed in front of Varren. "What do you desire of me, master?"

Varren gazed at the guide's projection coldly. "Tell me how you were able to detect that I needed you. How were you able to contact me when I wasn't anywhere near the ship?"

The guide responded emotionlessly, "Answer: from the short amount of time you've spent inside this ship, I've managed to gather your energetic identity. I was then able to contact you using the energy of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. The energy that had been used has already come back by now; you don't need to worry, master."

"So you know my energetic identity, then?" He walked closer towards the projection, not letting it have any time to answer his question. "When the Koopa King Bowser was first attacking the Mario Brothers, he had a strange necklace, which had a blue crystal. The crystal's energy went into my energy stream; I absorbed it. Why did it do that? Why did I feel like the energy in that necklace belonged to me?"

"Identifying likely possibilities—please wait…" Varren let out a sigh. He folded his arms, gazing at the projection expectantly. It had an answer, he knew that this machine had an answer. It knew his energy identity… He just prayed that what the machine told him wasn't what he thought it was. "Most likely possibility found: bits and pieces of your energy have been scattered across the universe."

Varren blinked. 'But… Bowser had the strength to simply toss the Mario Brothers aside with the wave of his hand.' He couldn't do that… if he could, he would've used it during the fight with the Koopa King when he was helping Mario and Luigi defeat him and rescue the Princess from his grasp. "I… I suppose there's a lot to learn about myself," he mumbled quietly, staring at his hands as he flexed them.

"Shall we be off, master Varren?" the guide asked, ready to leave once again.

Slowly, Varren nodded, still somewhat taken aback by his newfound abilities. "Y-Yes, let's go. Take me as close as you can to this evil overlord named Darmaque in a single trip."

The projection vanished, but her voice could still be heard. "As you wish, master." The portion of the black hole that was kept within the container began to spin rapidly. Varren could feel the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN begin to rise into the air, but only by just a bit. Outside the ship, another wormhole ripped its way open in midair. With the gateway to the next world being revealed, the black saucer zipped forward, on its way to the next destination.


	4. The Kin is Following

Back in the Mario World, peace had been restored. Peach invited Mario to a picnic in an attempt to make up for the destroyed party, and she let Luigi tag along. They were chatting with each other, mainly about how greatly Varren had helped them. Peach was drinking her tea quietly while Mario was enjoying his spaghetti. Luigi, on the other hand, was simply taking this time to vent out his emotions about how he felt in Mario's shadow all the time. "I just-a feel so emotionally small compared to you, Mario… You're always so much-a better than me."

Mario was a bit too busy scarfing down his spaghetti to say much, so Peach spoke for him. "Don't worry, Luigi, you're just as good as Mario is. Sure, you're a little different, but you're special in your own ways. You've just got to find your talents."

Luigi sighed, looking down. "Yeah, I guess you're-a right… I just hate being left in the dark when Mario goes on an adventure and leaves me behind to do laundry." As if reality were reacting on Luigi's words, a massive shadow cast around the area. Luigi plopped his head on the table, moaning in complaint.

Slowly, Mario began to notice the shadow. He stopped his eating to look up at the sky. "That's-a strange… there aren't any clouds. Why is it getting dark in the middle of-a the day?" To answer his question was a loud screech echoing above the sky. The screech could be heard throughout the entirety of the Mario World. Peach covered her ears, cringing at how loud it was. Mario cringed as well, but continued to stare upwards. In place of the sun, a massive ball of blackness formed. It was sucking the sky in! "Mama mia!" Mario cried, staring at the horrifying sight.

Luigi looked at the disappearing sky as well. "Wah!" he shouted. The green plumber hid under the picnic table in fear. That did no good though. A massive gust of wind surged through the area. Trees were ripping from their roots, flying high in the sky, into the black ball of darkness. It took the table as well; Luigi held onto the grass, panicking more than he'd ever in his entire life. The top of the castle ripped from its shingles, ruining the work of art that was the massive building.

Mario gripped tightly onto his hat, trying to hold his ground. Peach, however, was helpless before the overwhelming power of the blackness. She was sent spiraling through the air, headed towards the suction. "Peach!" Mario cried. He jumped high in the air, aware of the risks, and grabbed the Princess's ankle. He quickly held onto a fraction of the castle's wall that hadn't broken off.

The ground ripped away from Luigi's grasp; he flew up into the air as well. "Mama miaaaaaa!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the air.

Mario began to feel tears flow down his face as he watched his younger brother get taken away by some unknown force. "Luigi! No!" He looked back and forth from Peach to Luigi. He desperately wanted to save them both, but he knew that he could only save one of them. Did he save his girlfriend who he loved with all his heart, or did he save his beloved baby brother? Mario never got to choose. The walls that remained of the castle ripped off, and he, too, was sent flying upwards. "Whaaaaaaow!" he shouted. He flew high up into the suction force in the sky… Luigi, as well as Peach, were next to follow him.

A voice echoed from the black hole in the sky. "Where is Varren!?" it bellowed. The blackness took in the trees, the castles, the kingdoms, the seas—everything. In a matter of seconds, nothing was left of the Super Mario World. All that was there… was blackness.

**Meanwhile...**

The CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN came to a sudden halt. Once again, seemingly no time at all had passed. Varren looked outside through the main screen. He saw that there was a fence in front of the ship, and behind the fence was a mass of trees. "Where are we this time?" he thought aloud.

The guide's projection popped up in front of Varren out of nowhere, startling him. It responded to his question, unable to recognize it as rhetorical. "Answer: we have arrived at our next destination, master Varren. We are in Hyrule."

Varren blinked. He looked back outside to the trees. "Yet another planet with life… Tell me about this place, guide. What's Hyrule's history?"

"Scanning planet history—please wait…" Varren nodded. He was beginning to develop tolerance for the guide's constant loading time. He had to, after all, as this was going to be a reoccurring event. The guide spoke once again. "Hyrule has been alive for centuries. Most of the time, it has lived in peace. However, there have come many times when the King of Darkness rises from his grave. He is known as Ganondorf. Ganondorf has many reincarnations of himself. But when a villain rises, a hero does as well. The Hero of Time, Link, also has multiple reincarnations. Ganondorf has been defeated time and time again by the Hero of Time, and his plots to gain all three pieces of the Triforce have also been stopped repeatedly."

Varren tilted his head to the side. "Triforce?" he echoed. "Guide, could you please tell me about this… 'Triforce'? What is it?"

To Varren's surprise, the guide answered in an instant. "Answer: The Triforce is a mystical source of light energy which contains three portions: wisdom, power, and courage. The villainous Ganondorf has the power fragment, the princess who has also been reincarnated repeatedly, Zelda, has the fragment of wisdom, and the Hero of Time, Link, has the fragment of courage. Ganondorf has longed to have all three pieces of the Triforce to himself in order to gain the power of the gods, but as stated, Link has always stopped Ganondorf in his tracks."

"The Triforce," the guide continued, "has chosen only two of the three wielders of it: Zelda and Link. Ganondorf, however, stole the fragment of power from the Triforce long ago, and claimed it for himself, forcing it to choose him. Thus, the three have been stuck in time for generations, yet very rarely do they appear."

Varren was awestruck. 'This tale seems _much_ more adventurous than the one I heard in the Super Mario World… How magnificent!' he thought, grinning in pure delight. "Thank you for the information, guide. I'll be sure to take note of it."

Varren opened the door which led outside the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. What he saw was absolutely unexpected for him. He was facing the back of a hut. He turned around to see the fence from before. "Where on earth…?" He looked around the area once again. There was light green, freshly cut grass. In the gates he was within, there were red flowers placed randomly. Varren blinked. "It… seems as if I'm in someone's backyard."

He looked back to the hut again to observe it. There was a door… should he go in? No, he didn't want to break inside or intrude.

Suddenly, the back door opened, as if to satisfy his curiosity. To come outside was a young woman with bright blonde hair. Her ears were rather pointy; they reminded Varren of elves' ears. Her eyes had the colors of a calming blue, but they were filled with the emotion of shock and confusion. She stared at Varren in alarm. "Wh-Who are you?" she asked.

Varren could tell that he'd intimidated her. There was a massive black saucer behind him and he'd just 'magically' appeared into her backyard. Of course she'd be afraid. Varren smiled at her. He put his hat on his chest as he gave a polite bow in an attempt to calm the woman. "You needn't fear me, ma'am. My name is Varren. I'm a traveler. I'm terribly sorry for… well, randomly stopping in your backyard. It must be horrifying for you."

Varren could see the young woman's eyes lighten down, the alarm and fear leaving her. She began to smile at him, sighing a bit in relief. "Oh, well, hello there Varren. Don't worry about startling me, it's okay. I hadn't expected it, that's all." She held her arm behind her back. "My name's Zelda. Pleasure to meet you."

Varren froze. 'Zelda?' he thought. 'Princess Zelda? What's she doing here? Why is she living in a simple hut? Is this incarnation of her a princess at all? What's… What's going on?' The gentleman cleared his throat, trying to dismiss the confusion, and to act casually. "Zelda. Ah, that's a fine name…" Varren looked down momentarily before saying, "I-I don't suppose you have anything to eat, do you? I don't mean to bother you, but, I haven't eaten a thing all day; I'm starving."

Zelda nodded, walking to the back door she'd just come from. "No, no, it's okay. I'll gladly feed you. Come inside!" She opened the door for him, smiling. Varren couldn't help but dislike the fact that _she_ was opening the door for _him_, but he simply had to put that thought away. He tipped his hat to her in respect and then walked inside. Zelda came inside behind him, closing the door. "So," she said, "you said you're a traveler. Where have you traveled?"

Varren looked around the room for a table, but he managed to answer Zelda's question in the act of doing so. "Well, I have a feeling you wouldn't believe me if I told you, ma'am," he simply stated. Varren sat down in the chair which was placed in front of a small, circular table.

Zelda chuckled lightly, walking to a chest. "I've been through my fair share of strange things, Varren; you can tell me anything you want." She opened the chest and bent over, gathering cooking ingredients.

"Well," Varren said, "if you truly are sure that you'll believe me, I'll tell you. I've traveled from my own world, to the Super Mario World, and now to this world known as 'Hyrule.' I'm traveling in search of an evil overlord known as Darmaque, who seeks to enslave the universe, as I've been told."

Zelda put a slab of meat on a stone plate above a pile of logs. "Oh really?" she said. "Sounds like you're doing something huge! That's bigger than anything Link's ever done… he's only saved _our_ world from Ganondorf. Ganon's dead now, though, so there's no need to worry." She collected two rocks from the chest and began to scrape them together over the logs, attempting to start a flame.

"Ah, so Ganondorf has already been slain, has he…?" Varren thought aloud, looking up to the ceiling.

Zelda turned half way around to Varren, a questioning gaze in her eyes. "What do you mean, 'Already been slain'?" she suspiciously inquired.

Varren shook his head quickly, snapping himself back into the conversation. He returned Zelda's look with an honest smile. "Nothing, nothing. I simply know a lot about your past history, that's all," he told her.

Zelda gazed at Varren distrustfully for a moment longer before turning back to the logs. At last, a spark cracked from the rocks. Slowly, a fire grew in the logs, consuming them hungrily. The slab of meat on the stone plate began to sizzle. "Whatever…"

Varren didn't know how to react to that statement, so he simply didn't say anything at all. He looked back up at the ceiling again, preparing to think about something… well, important, just as he always thought. He knew that what he was going to think about was going to be important. The only thing was he didn't know what to think about, so he simply ended up staring at the ceiling thinking about—what to think about. All was quiet in the room, except for the meat crackling in the background… Varren thought he could hear a voice, just barely above the racket the slab of meat was making. It was as if it was in the back of his head. That was strange… it had never happened to him before. It was the voice of a female… the same familiar voice that had told him about the danger. "Varren…" the voice whispered, "your kin is searching for you…" Varren stared up into the ceiling. He tried to make sense of what had just been spoken in his mind. It said again, "Your kin is searching for you…"

Varren tilted his head to the side. 'My kin is searching for me?' he thought. 'But my sister is dead! She couldn't be searching for me if she's dead! So then… what does this mean!?' Varren sighed in frustration, resting his head against the small table.

Zelda noticed Varren's sigh. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Nothing, nothing, it's just… I'm trying to make sense of who could be looking for me," he replied with honesty.

Zelda turned half way to Varren, smiling at him friendlily. "Don't worry, Varren. I'm sure that it's nothing." She turned back to the now-cooked meat to take the plate away from the fire. She placed it in front of Varren. "Be careful now," she warned, "it's hot."

Varren returned Zelda's smile. He tipped his fedora hat to her politely. "Thank you for your generosity, ma'am," he said. Zelda quickly gave Varren a fork and a knife to eat the meat with. The gentleman took the silver wear and began to eat his food.

Just as he did so, he heard the front door opening. "Zelda...?" he heard someone say. It was the voice of a man. Rather soft spoken though…

Zelda's eyes lit up as though she'd recognized the voice immediately. "Link!" she shouted excitedly. Varren's eyes widened. That was the name of the Hero of Time! My… how lucky he was to meet both Zelda _and_ Link in a single day! Zelda quickly ran over to the front door to greet her friend.

Varren could hear gentle laughter from Link, and from Zelda as well. The two of them seemed so… sweet together. Varren had to resist envious thoughts. He went back to thinking about what the voice had said recently. 'My kin is looking for me…' he thought to himself. 'What could that mean? Well, Megan's dead, so it couldn't be her… Wait a minute, my energy is somehow scattered across the universe. Could it be that the voice was talking about my energy searching for me? But it's energy… it doesn't have a consciousness! So then how could it be searching for me…?'

Varren's thoughts were interrupted by a presence of another person in the room. He turned his head to see if it was Link or Zelda… he found that it was both. What surprised Varren the most was how Link was dressed. He was wearing a baggy, green shirt, along with a green sock hat to match it. He wore brown pants as well, which were equally baggy… Link didn't say a word. He simply stared at Varren questioningly. The look in his eyes wasn't one of betrayal or hurt feelings, but simply one of curiosity. Zelda nudged Link's shoulder. "This is Varren," she told him. "He appeared in my backyard. Don't worry though, he's friendly." Link simply looked to Zelda, his eyes full of concern for her. Zelda smiled at the hero reassuringly. "My heart tells me he's a good man."

There was a moment of pause. Link turned to Varren with reluctance. He had a suspicious gaze. Slowly though, he held out his hand to the gentleman. Varren sighed in frustration internally. He was rubbish at hand gestures! Still though… this was the Hero of Time's way of expressing himself as a friend—Varren couldn't simply ignore that! Deciding to accept the social cue, he took Link's hand, then gave him a friendly handshake. Link smiled, feeling a bit more comfortable with Varren.

Varren pulled his hand back, letting go of Link's. He looked at Zelda. "Link doesn't seem to be saying much. He's only said a single word since he's stepped foot in this house! Is he quite alright?"

Zelda smiled, nodding. "Yes, yes, he's always been like this. It usually takes a while before you can get on his good side, then he'll talk to you." Link growled in frustration. He hated being talked about like he was a new pet in the house. He folded his arms grumpily. Zelda noticed Link's minor anger; she held his hand gently in an attempt to sooth him. "Hey, don't be like that. I'm just telling what I think is the truth." Link looked to Zelda with a startled gaze at the fact that she was holding his hand. He blushed darkly, looking down to his feet.

Once more, Varren couldn't help but envy those two. He sighed, trying to change the topic in his mind. "So Link, Zelda, would you two like to sit down with me and enjoy a meal? I could cut this steak—even though it's not much of one—into three, and we could all have a small snack, if you'd like."

"Yeah, sure!" said Zelda, smiling brightly. The young woman put two more plates on the table for all of them. She sat down on the seat opposite of Varren. Link simply nodded his head, sitting down on the seat next to Zelda.

Varren stuck the fork in the steak, then cut it into three with the knife. He placed one of the thirds on Zelda's plate. "One for you—" he placed the other third on Link's plate, "—one for you—" then Varren looked down at his own slice of the share. "—and one for me."

With that, the three of them began to eat their small meals. It tasted rather hard on one side, but perfectly cooked on the other side; it was obvious that Zelda forgot to flip the steak over. Varren looked to Link as he ate his share. "So, Hero of Time, what have you been up to?"

Link looked at Varren, pausing from his eating. His gaze traveled to the side as he scratched the back of his head. "Ehhh…" A blush began to crawl up his face once more for some unknown reason; Varren tilted his head to the side in confusion.

Zelda giggled slightly at Link's reaction. "Well," she answered for him, "he's recently helped out the farmers from the other side of the village. Their goats had gotten loose, so he had to scare them back into the bin of the farm." Link slowly nodded at Zelda's statement as if he knew it was the truth, but somehow Varren could tell that the hero's mind was elsewhere.

Varren didn't know where Link's mind was, but he wasn't exactly bothered by being oblivious to that situation. He simply smiled at Link, trying to snap his mind out of where it was. "Well, that's very generous of you, if I do say so myself. To do such minor errands for your neighbors is _truly_ an honorable act. I'm glad that you could be such a good person, Link. You truly are the Hero of Time."

Varren's plan in getting Link out of his fantasies was successful. Link smiled, a somewhat prideful look in his eyes. "Heheh."

Zelda nudged Link's shoulder gently. "Don't let all of those compliments get to your head now," she playfully warned him.

The hero only chuckled softly as he resumed to eat his share of the food. Varren honestly didn't like how quiet Link was. He gave him little to know, and the less he knew the harder it was to keep up the conversation. It's obvious that the Hero of Time had a problem of expressing himself… He needed Link's input if he was to properly continue the conversation. "You know, Link," said the gentleman, "I think that you should express yourself better."

Zelda looked at Varren with a gaze of warning. "Don't be rude now, Varren," she seriously advised.

"No, no, I'm not being rude, I'm being legitimate." Varren looked at Link, leaning forward on the table. "Listen, Link, I know that you have a heart of gold. You helped your neighbors, you've slain the evil King of Darkness, you've rescued the Triforce from evil—you've done _so_ many good things in the past to prove that you're a holy man. However, your weakness is properly expressing yourself. Since you don't talk much, it would be easy for one to believe that you're emotionally soft, and a rather delicate thing." Varren put his fork on the table, in front of Link's plate. "Listen to me. I want you to tell me about yourself. What was it like defeating Ganondorf?"

Zelda began to grow angry with Varren and how he was pushing Link to do things. "You're walking on thin ice, Varren…" Link placed his hand on Zelda's shoulder, giving her a reassuring look. Zelda returned Link's watchfulness, her own look filled with concern. There was a pause. Zelda wanted to make sure that Link was comfortable in talking to someone he'd just met. The reassuring look in the hero's eyes, though… it proved to Zelda that he could handle it. The young woman nodded. "If you're sure…"

Link smiled, then turned his gaze to Varren. He took in a deep breath, then let it out. "Ganondorf was, and is, the strongest opponent that I've ever fought..." he said softly. "His skills in combat were unbelievable, and his amount of raw power was incredible... I was barely able to hold my own… I managed to defeat him in swordsmanship though, despite his greatly overpowering fighting style, and his superior strength and speed…"

Varren smiled as he began to lean back in his chair. "It sounds rather interesting! You're doing a wonderful job, Link… Keep going! I'd like to hear more about this battle of yours."

The Hero of Time smiled at Varren. He loved telling these stories to people, but he never told anyone but Zelda, simply because she was the only one he would ever dare to speak to. Talking to someone else about his adventures really did make him feel better. "Before I fought him on the ground, though, I had to first battle him on a horse…" he quietly continued. "It was exhausting… He had unimaginable strength and speed on his own, so if you combine his strength with the speed of his horse…"

"Ah, I see," Varren said, drawing an assumed conclusion. "So, this was _before_ you fought him on the ground. Did anything ever happen _after_?"

Link nodded, leaning forward. The look in his eyes showed Varren that he was really enjoying telling his tales. "Yes…! After I'd defeated him in swordsmanship, I honestly thought that it was the end of the battle… I didn't know that he could transform himself… Ganondorf turned into a beast of some kind… Both his strength _and_ his speed were increased by at least tenfold…! All I had to defend myself with was a sword and a shield, but still, I managed to fight him off, and defeat him…"

Varren smiled. He leaned forward as well, meeting Link's gaze equally. "So then, it seems as if you're quite good at wielding the sword, correct?" Not wanting to say much more, Link simply nodded as a response. Varren was willing to accept that, considering the fact that Link had already expressed himself quite enough. The gentleman chuckled as he looked up to the wooden ceiling. "The last thing that _I_ fought was a strange thing called a 'Koopa.' I barely did anything in that fight… The only legitimate fight with a creature that I've ever had would be one with an undead Koopa, called a Dry Bones, and even then it wasn't a _true_ fight. Instead of directly combatting him, I tricked him into falling to his own demise. Sure, I can fight averagely well in martial arts combat, but… well, I don't really think that I'd stand a chance against a serious opponent. I probably wouldn't be able to defend myself against someone like Ganondorf."

A sympathetic gaze formed in Link's eyes. He didn't want Varren, a traveler of the universe, to go without any means of legitimate defense. "If you'd like, I could teach you everything there is to know about swordsmanship…" he offered quietly.

Varren looked at the hero in shock. "What? Would you honestly be willing to do that for me? My, that would be splendid if you did so! Thank you _very_ much, Link. You've truly done me a marvelous favor!" Link smiled in a response, nodding his head.

Zelda looked at Link. "Be cautious, Link," she told him. "I don't want you training him too hardly. Remember, he's a beginner; go easy on him." Link nodded once again, only this time it was directed to Zelda. He stood up from his chair, then walked out of the hut.

Varren blinked. Link didn't say anything that implied that he should follow him… but, perhaps Link simply assumed that he would do so? Unsure of what to do, the gentleman reluctantly got up from his seat as well, then turned around to walk out of the hut, into the open. Link was there waiting for him. Varren looked around the area to see that there were a fair number of small huts located in this village. They had a lot of space in between them, so that way each hut could have its own bit of privacy, or so Varren assumed was the purpose behind it. Link began to walk into Zelda's backyard, gesturing with his hand for Varren to follow. Having proper instructions this time, Varren immediately followed Link into the backyard.

**Meanwhile, in an unknown destination...**

An extremely pale figure sat in his seat. He stroked his paper white hair away from the single eye it was covering. His long, red cape made him feel comfortable in his stone chair, and his white jumpsuit made him feel rather warm. The massive, red diamond on his yellow leather belt shined brightly in the darkened area. His long, white gloves covered his arms cozily. He magically summoned a small mirror to gaze at himself in order to pass the time. His pointed ears remained uncovered by his white hair… He smirked, dispelling the mirror. He held up his hand to the skies. He looked up at his hand to gaze at the ring on his finger, pulsing with a constant flow of energy. "Such power…" he said to himself, marveling over the energetic flow within the ring. "Truly an incredible thing to behold," he said, chuckling at his own power. "If anyone were to attack me now… I believe that they would fail miserably; victory would be mine in the end. It's almost as if the _gods_ brought this energy source to me… I'm certainly glad that I found this in the wilderness."

The man smiled as he looked at the ceiling, past his ring. "But I can't do anything with this newfound power yet, not while the Hero of Time still has his youth… His past reincarnation has already caused me quite enough problems centuries ago. Now that he's reincarnated once again… I've got to wait until he dies naturally before I can make my move of enslaving the population of Hyrule."

Suddenly, the ring began to glow brightly. The pale figure tilted his head to the side, staring at it in confusion. "What on earth…?" The bright light intensified, temporarily blinding him. Soon though, it concentrated itself into a straight line, pointing north. "Hmm?" He studied the line of light. "Where do you want me to go, little ring…?" Out of curiosity, the man stood from his throne, letting his red cape drop down to the side. In an instant, he magically teleported away from his stone fortress.

**After a day's worth of training with Link...**

Varren was panting, completely exhausted. The sun had gone down, and the moon had risen. Crickets were chirping. It was because of the moonlight that he could still see Link standing in front of him. The gentleman let his new, steel sword droop down on the ground. Link, however, was perfectly fine. The hero rested his sword on his shoulder. He smirked playfully at Varren. The gentleman could sense why. "Oh stop that," he said, defending himself. "I know what you're thinking, and I already know it myself. I've got little to no stamina. I keep telling myself that I need to work out more, but it's a bit hard to do that when you're in the middle of potentially saving the universe, _alright_!?"

Link chuckled softly, sheathing his sword. "Saving people means that you have to take on evildoers who threaten them… Doing so is quite the workout itself, don't you think…?" he quietly asked, smiling.

Irritable due to exhaustion, it was rather hard for Varren to contain himself. However, he managed to pull it off anyways. This _was_ the Hero of Time he was talking to. Still panting, he gave a nod of his head as he replied, "Yes, yes, I suppose you're right about that…" He sheathed the sword of his own, the sheath located across his back, just where Link had taught him to put it.

Link smiled, turning away from Varren. "Goodbye, Varren… We'll train again tomorrow, so please, stay at Zelda's house for the night so I'll know where to find you... Of course, make sure that it's okay with her… If she tells you that you can't stay at her house, come to mine… You'll find it in the front of the village…" he quietly informed him, pointing towards the first house to the left that could be seen.

Varren nodded, waving a farewell to the hero dressed in green. "Right, right—I'll see you tomorrow for the next round of training!" As Varren watched Link return to his own home, a moment of silence fell over him. While it was true that training and improving his swordsmanship was important for his adventures, he couldn't simply stay in one place for a long amount of time! He was an active man. Besides, that voice told him that his 'kin' was searching for him. That meant that he would have to hit the road once again as soon as possible… Varren walked to the front of Zelda's house, dismissing the thought that he'd lied to the Hero of Time.

He knocked on her door. Within seconds, the young, blonde-haired woman opened up the door. She smiled friendlily at Varren. "Hello again, Varren," she said. "You must be _exhausted_! You spent all day training with Link!"

'At last, someone who doesn't think I'm a complete weakling,' Varren disdainfully thought. He scratched the back of his head, unsure as to how Zelda would take what he was about to say. "Well… While it's true that I am indeed exhausted… I actually came here to talk to you about something else. You see, Link told me to spend the night over here with you, so that way he would know where to find me. He's going to continue training me tomorrow, if you're wondering why he would want to know my whereabouts."

Zelda paused momentarily. She was unsure if she wanted to let someone she just met stay the night at her house… but if Link said that he wanted him to stay, then it must be okay. If Link trusted him, then surely he was trustworthy? She nodded, moving back as she opened the door wider. "Make yourself at home," she said, welcoming him entirely.

Varren smiled at her acceptance. "Thank you very much for inviting me to stay the night, ma'am," he politely replied. "I can assure you that you won't be able to tell a difference between me being present compared to before you even met me." The gentleman walked into the house, looking around the area. He saw that there was a small, leather couch in the center of the room.

Zelda returned Varren's smile. "Alright, you can sleep on the couch while I sleep in my bed. I know it may seem unfair, but this house isn't meant for more than one person." The young woman looked to the side momentarily as a blush crawled across her face for some unknown reason. "Well, I… I mean, another person could live with me, since my bed is big enough for two people, but… I'm… saving that spot for someone special…"

Varren's gaze softened as he stared at Zelda. 'Such love…' he thought, amazed by how much those two obviously adored one another. Trying his best to be happy for them, and not envious, he quickly changed the tender subject. "Thank you once again for letting me stay the night, Zelda."

The young blonde shook her head, dismissing her thoughts. She smiled at him again. "R-Right, it's no problem at all, Varren. Like I said, make yourself at home… Goodnight. Oh, and, I hope you meant what you said about me not being able to tell the difference between you being there and not being there at all. I'm actually an extremely light sleeper."

Varren chuckled lightly. He put his hat on his chest as he gave a polite bow. "I'm a man of my word… Goodnight." With that, Varren sat down on the couch, then relaxed his body after he laid down on it comfortably, sprawling himself across the leather sofa. Zelda walked off to her own room, then rested on her bed. In an instant, Varren could hear that she was breathing rather softly; she could easily tell that she'd instantly fallen asleep. 'My,' he thought, 'for someone who's a light sleeper, she most certainly isn't difficult to get to sleep in the first place…' Varren could feel his eyelids getting heavier. He stifled a yawn, giving a stretch. All of this adventuring was so exhausting… Slowly, he let his eyes close. He began to become oblivious to his surroundings as tiredness took over his senses. The couch felt soft and comfy… If this was merely the couch, then he could easily understand how Zelda fell asleep as quick as she did in her much comfier bed. In a moment's notice, Varren, too, had gently drifted into sleep...


	5. The Dungeon

Varren slowly began to awaken from his sleep. He was staring up at the ceiling, his arms folded across his chest. He grunted quietly as he gave a stretch to better wake himself up fully. 'I'd best get searching for that energy source before Link comes to stall me,' he thought. He sloppily stood up from the couch, rubbing his eyes. The gentleman's gaze traveled to where Zelda had gone to sleep. 'I don't want her to get worried about me…' Hesitantly, he walked over to Zelda's room. He knocked on her door. "Zelda? Are you awake?"

Zelda quietly moaned. Varren could hear her shuffling around in the bed. "Yeah, I'm up," she said quietly, still half asleep.

"I'm going to go for a walk… Tell Link that I won't be able to train with him today, if you could be so kind." Varren began to open the front door.

"Why aren't you going to train with Link…?" she asked, yawning afterwards.

Varren paused. He looked down to his feet. He didn't want to tell them that he was simply in too much of a rush for training. That would be rude, wouldn't it? He didn't want to be rude in the slightest… nor did he want to answer the question. Pretending that he hadn't heard her, Varren walked outside, closing the door behind him. The gentleman looked around for a forest-like terrain. There was one behind this village. Or was it in front of the village? Varren couldn't tell… He shrugged, casually walking towards the forest.

** Nearby…**

The pale man was crouching on top of a tree, blending in with the area. He looked at his ring for guidance. "Where are you taking me…?" he whispered. The line of light was shining in the direction of Zelda's house. He tilted his head to the side. "What could she have…?" he thought aloud. Wait a minute, the line was shifting. He looked closer as to where it was pointing… The pale man saw a male figure walking out of Zelda's house, towards the woods. He was wearing a brown suit, as well as a black fedora. He had blackish brown hair of average length, just barely touching his shoulders. The pale man stared at the figure. "Oh, so you like _him_…?" he whispered quietly. "Let's just pay him a little visit, if you like him so much… But not here… We'll meet him at his own destination…" He stroked his white hair before magically teleporting into the direction of the woods where Varren was walking.

**With Varren…**

The gentleman continued to venture forth into the woods. He stared into the mass of trees, letting his thoughts wander away. 'Now if I were an energy source… where would I…?' Varren's thought was left incomplete as he felt an attraction in the forest. A feeling told him that he needed to go there… a hypnotic feeling… Unable to resist, Varren broke into a sprint. It didn't take him long to get surrounded by trees, considering the fact that he was already fairly close to his destination. He ran through the woods, towards the strange attraction. What was it that had caught his attention so?

As if to answer his question, Varren heard a strange laughter. It sounded rather arrogant… He tilted his head to the side, slowing down to a jog. Far in front of him, a humanoid figure suddenly appeared. His jog slowed down even further, turning into a walk. Who was that…? In an instant, the humanoid figure appeared in front of him. He was extremely pale. He had white hair, which covered his right eye, and an equally white jumpsuit. He wore long, white gloves as well. On his back was a red cape, blowing gently in the wind. Varren's gaze went down to the man's gloves, where he saw a ring, pulsing with dark blue energy. That was the same energy he'd absorbed from the Mario World! He… couldn't take his gaze away from the ring. The pale man smiled eerily at Varren. "Hello there."

Varren shook his head, trying to maintain the subject at hand. He was being confronted by a stranger… but this stranger had his energy! He tried to act casually. "Greetings," he calmly replied.

The pale man in white continued to smile at Varren. He tilted his head to the side slightly. Varren found it rather… creepy. "Tell me," said the man, "who are you, and what do you have?" He lifted his hand with the ring on it up to Varren's face, letting the light continue to shine brightly into his eyes. "For some reason, my energy source seems to have an attraction to you."

Varren stared at the energy source in front of him. Why wasn't he absorbing it? He stared at it with an empty gaze. "I-I… I've absorbed this energy before, actually," he replied, too caught up in the energy to hide anything.

The man put his hand down. He moved closer to Varren to where his face was directly in front of his. "Is that so? Tell me, what's your name?"

The gentleman stared into the man's eyes. He was getting too close for comfort, and the intent in his gaze seemed to be rather intimidating. It was obvious that this man wasn't normal. "I-I am Varren," he stuttered.

The man smiled. For some odd reason, he put his hand on Varren's cheek, as if he were a statue of gold. "Varren, eh? Well… it's nice to know your name… My name is Demon Lord Ghirahim. I'm actually not supposed to be active until a few more decades have passed…" Ghirahim slipped his hand down Varren's cheek to put his finger on his lips. "So keep this conversation hushed…"

A chill was sent down Varren's spine. This Ghirahim fellow was certainly frightening. His ominous gaze, along with how he was interacting with him… it simply wasn't right to Varren. He could only nod his head in a response.

In an instant, Ghirahim disappeared, then reappeared behind Varren. The Demon Lord put his hand on Varren's shoulder, his ghostly gaze empowering. "You said that you'd absorbed this energy before… Tell me, Varren, where did you find this energy?"

"I… I found it in a different world, known as the Mario World," he replied, too intimidated to tell a lie, in fear that his life might be ended.

Ghirahim let out a sigh. He teleported in front of Varren, though his back was facing him. "Ah… so you this energy on an entirely different _word_, eh? I suppose that means that things will be harder than I thought… But I suppose I can figure something out." He turned around half way to smirk at the frightened gentleman. "And remember what I said about keeping this hushed, Varren… Noise is silver… and silence is golden…" In an instant, the Demon Lord vanished right before his eyes.

Varren stared at where Ghirahim had been. He was in a petrified state of horror. The look in that man's eyes… It was so demonic, yet so… playful at the same time. The way Ghirahim had interacted with him, too… that was the main thing that had disturbed him. Varren shook his head, trying to regain himself. That man who claimed to be a 'Demon Lord' had a fraction of his energy, and he needed to get it back, no matter what the cost! "Computer," he called, "point me in the direction of the nearest energy source that matches my own."

In an instant, the hologram of the guide appeared in front of Varren. "Yes, master Varren. Locating energy source—please wait…" Varren tapped his foot impatiently. He wanted to get this done as soon as he possibly could. This was important business, after all. If he didn't find Ghirahim in time, he might have found some sort of way to travel through worlds on his own, and the energy source he stole would be his forever! Varren began to grow tense at the mere thought of such a thing. At last, the guide spoke. "Energy located. Continue south through the woods, and you should arrive at your desired location."

Varren sighed in relief, glad to know that he was already close to his destination. He nodded. "Thanks computer!" he said before running off to the south end of the forest, in the exact direction the guide had pointed him in.

**With Link…**

The Hero of Time knocked on Zelda's door. There was a moment of silence before the young woman answered the door. Her eyes lit up. "Link!" she exclaimed. Zelda hugged him tightly.

Link chuckled quietly, hugging her back. He loved the fact that she was always excited to see him. It made him feel like he mattered… Link peeked inside Zelda's house, searching for Varren. To his surprise, Varren wasn't anywhere to be seen! "Mm?"

Zelda noticed Links' apparent confusion; she moved back slightly, though she didn't let go of the hug. "What's wrong?" she asked him. Link didn't answer her question. He put his hands on her shoulders, then smiled at her momentarily before backing away from the hug. He walked inside Zelda's house, searching for Varren. Zelda soon caught on as to what Link was looking for. "You're looking for Varren, right?" Link turned around to face Zelda, nodding his head. "Well…" Zelda scratched the back of her head, looking up at the ceiling. "Varren actually went for a walk in the woods. I asked him why he didn't want to train with you, but he never answered… Maybe something's up?"

Link gazed out the windows, staring at the forest area. "Hmm…" He shifted his observation towards Zelda. He smiled at her, nodding once again, as if to say thanks. Without another word being said, Link walked out of Zelda's house, towards the woods.

Zelda watched Link leave her house. She couldn't help but feel like there would be something dangerous awaiting him… She walked out of her house, standing in her front yard. "Be careful!" she called. Link smiled, turning his head as he waved at her, looking at her from the corner of his eye. The Hero of Time turned his gaze fully towards the woods, where he began his search for Varren.

Link looked around the area, searching for clues as to where Varren could have gone. He looked down at the grass, trying to see if he could make out any footprints, if that was possible. To his dismay, there were none. Unsure as to where he should go, Link continued towards the south end of the forest, searching for his friend.

**Returning to Varren…**

He was panting, completely out of breath. The gentleman wiped the sweat from his brow as he rested against the tree. The desire to go forward had gotten stronger as he got closer to his destination. He looked ahead. To meet his gaze was a massive, stone tower. Exhausted, he bent over, putting his hands on his knees. "Why can't I ever get in a good exercise?" he asked himself.

"Varren…?" he heard a familiar voice call from behind. "Where are you?"

The gentleman turned around to see who it was. In the distance, he saw none other than the Hero of Time himself. What was _he_doing here? Not wanting to worry his friend, Varren waved both of his hands in the air. "I'm over here!" he replied.

Link squinted, looking hard at Varren. He began to smile as he made out his familiar traits. Quickly, the hero ran towards Varren, eager to greet him. Varren simply scratched the back of his head, waiting for Link to make his way up to him. It took little to no time at all; Link was already in front of Varren. "Why are you going here…?" he quietly inquired.

"Someone has a fraction of my energy…" the gentleman replied, staring at the stone fortress. "I think he's inside there." Link followed Varren's gaze, staring at the massive tower made of stone. Varren knew that he had to go inside there to retrieve his energy source… but meeting the face of the Demon Lord once again… what a terrifying experience. He sucked in his gut. Varren had to be brave. He walked towards the stone fortress. Hesitantly, Link followed behind him. Varren opened the rocky door, going inside the fortress. Link came inside after him.

Varren looked around the area, taking in his surroundings. There was a massive, stone bridge. Below the bride was a moat of lava, and passed it was yet another door. Varren shuttered, trying not to look down. He timidly walked across the bridge. Link, however, walked across the bridge with confidence. Varren couldn't help but be slightly amazed at how bravely Link was handling this situation. It was as if he dealt with things like this on a daily basis! Now across the bridge, Varren opened the next door.

This room was massive and circular. There was nothing in _this_ room but another door. That and two black slots near the ceiling. Varren stared at the slots in confusion. "What could those be used for?" he thought aloud.

Varren began to walk towards the next door, but Link put his hand on the gentleman's shoulder. Varren looked at Link questioningly. "What's the matter?" he inquired. To answer his question, the hero pointed upwards at the black slots. Varren followed his finger, gazing at them. Coming out of the slots were anthropomorphic lizards. The two of them crawled down the wall, onto the floor. To follow them were two more pairs of lizard men. The six reptilians all guarded the next door. Then Varren heard a slam coming from behind him. He turned around to see that the door he'd come from had been barred shut! The gentleman let out a sigh, begrudgingly turning back to the creatures. "Argonians, eh?"

Link looked to Varren in confusion. He'd never heard _that_ word before. Slowly, the hero's gaze traveled back to the apparent 'Argonians,' as Varren had called them. Three of them rushed towards Link, and the other three prowled closer to Varren. Varren braced himself, looking at the three enemies cautiously. He could hear Link battling his own. From the sounds of things, he couldn't tell who was winning. These creatures must be strong… At once, one of the Argonians leapt towards Varren. Acting on pure reflexes, Varren twirled to the side, unsheathing his sword in the same motion. The second one pounced at him, just as the first had done. Varren gashed his sword across the Argonian's chest, half using its own friction against it. That didn't seem to stop the creature though. It clawed viciously at Varren's face. Quickly, he stepped backwards, but the claws on the creature were longer than he thought; a small cut was created across his cheek. Leaping from behind, the first one that had attacked Varren struck again. Varren was taken completely off guard; he stumbled forwards, then collapsed on the ground face first. The lizard beast buzz sawed Varren's back, creating wound after wound. Varren let out a cry in pain. With adrenaline strengthening him, Varren forced himself onto his feet, knocking the Argonian off of him. The lizard landed on its back. Quickly, Varren lifted up his sword, then lunged it downwards, stabbing the creature through the neck. That wasn't the end of it though, and he knew it. Not knowing what was behind him, Varren quickly spun around to swing his sword at whatever may be in its path. He thanked his gut for leading him to do that when he'd unintentionally decapitated the second one. Varren looked around the area for the third and final one he had to face. Where could he be? Link spun around, slashing his final lizard opponent with a powerful blow which knocked him on the ground. He jumped his in the air, holding the hilt of his blade by both of his hand as he fell towards the Argonian. His blade slammed against it, killing it as a result. The hero looked up to see the Argonian that Varren was looking for. It was about to pounce on him! "Behind you!" Link shouted. Varren turned around just in time to see the final Argonian falling down towards him. Varren quickly got on a single knee, then thrust his sword upwards just in time to stab the beast through the stomach. It froze, gagging in pain. It didn't take long for the Argonian to go limp.

Varren sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, it's over…" Suddenly, he heard something move from where they had entered. Varren turned his gaze towards the door to see that the metal bars had lifted from where they had once stood.

Varren's back was facing Link. The Hero of Time observed Varren's injured back, the multiple scratches all across it. Link walked over to Varren. He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey…"

Varren turned half way to look at Link. "Hm?" Link reached down into his pocket to pull out a vile of red liquid. He held it out to Varren, looking at him expectantly. The gentleman blinked in confusion. What was that he was offering? Reluctantly, Varren took the drink from Link's hand. Varren observed the liquid in the bottle. It didn't appear to be strange… It looked like a normal liquid, except for its color. Knowing that Link couldn't possibly mean any harm, Varren took a swig of the elixir. To his surprise, the pain in his back was instantly removed!

Link smiled at Varren's back, which had now been healed. "I have one left…" he quietly informed him.

Varren nodded, taking that into account. "Got that," he said, an assuring look in his eyes. Varren hesitantly walked over to the next door. He prayed that there wouldn't be another group of monsters that he would have to fight. To his relief, all that was in this room was a hallway. Next to this hallway was a massive staircase leading upwards. Varren tilted his head to the side. "Which direction do we go?" he inquired. Link's gaze traveled from the hallway to the stairs in a repeated manner. He hadn't the slightest clue as to where Varren's thief could be located. Varren could see that Link was just as confused as he was; he knew that there wasn't any point in asking him. "I suppose we'll have to make an educated guess." He looked at the stairs. "Okay, tell you what, we'll go up the stairs first. We see what's up the stairs, and if it's something we don't like, we come back down here. Does that sound like a plan?" Link nodded his approval.

Varren walked up the staircase, curious as to what else he would find in this dungeon. When he got to the top, he found that there was a large, golden door. On this door were three circles. Inside the inner ring was a carving of an eagle. On the middle realm there was a carving of a fish, and on the outer was a carving of a bear. Below the circles was a large hole, but it didn't go all the way through the door. Varren assumed that something needed to be placed in that hole in order to activate something… Varren pushed on the door to see if it would open. As he expected, it was locked shut, which confirmed his theory. That hole was a massive keyhole… Perhaps they would find it down the hallway? He walked back downstairs to see Link, who had been patiently waiting for him. "I believe that there's a possibility of there being a key down this hallway… I'm not quite certain, but it's the best chance we've got."

Link nodded, then walked down the hallway. Varren thought that _he_ would lead the way; Link taking dominance was rather surprising to him. Varren followed the hero nonetheless. The hallway wasn't very long at all. In fact, they could see the end of the hallway directly in front of them. There was a skeleton dressed in black, heavy armor. It was holding a massive sword's hilt with its left hand, the blade stuck in the ground. In its right hand was a spherical shape… Varren assumed that it must be the key to the door upstairs; he quickly ran over to the skeleton. Link reached for Varren's shoulder to stop him, but he was too slow in grabbing for him. "Wait!" he warned.

Questioningly, Varren turned back to stare at the Hero of Time. "What's the matter? The key's right there before us…"

"It could be a trap…" Link quietly explained.

Varren chuckled, folding his arms. "Do you honestly believe that I hadn't thought of that?" he asked. "Trust me, I've observed this area enough to know that it's simply a dead end. There aren't any triggers that will activate if I take the key to the door, and there aren't any energy sources. Trust me, Link, it's safe." The green hero was still extremely hesitant about the idea of taking the key which was in plain sight. It seemed much too easy for it to be the legitimate case… but if Varren truly didn't sense anything, then perhaps it would be okay? Link slowly nodded his head, putting his trust into Varren. The gentleman smiled at Link. "That's better. Look, I'll show you that nothing wrong will come of it." He casually swiped the key from the skeleton's hand. "See? Nothing…" The gentleman walked back down the hallway. "Now let's go, O paranoid one."

"Ehhh…" Link was honestly surprised by the fact that it was that simple. He scratched the back of his head as he followed Varren wearily. Suddenly, rattling could be heard from behind them, back where the skeleton was. Link stopped in his tracks, instantly turning around to face the mass of bones. The skeleton began to radiate dark energy, and it was shaking violently.

Varren could suddenly feel the immediate presence of a dark aura. He turned around to see that it was the skeleton. "Perhaps I stand corrected…" he said, staring at the skeleton in shock.

The holes that were once its eyes shone a bright red. The possessed carcass threw its head back into the air, letting out a blood curdling screech. Varren cringed at the sound of such an unholy creature, but Link stood his ground, unsheathing his sword. Varren noticed that Link had prepared himself for battle; he, too, quickly drew his blade from its sheath. "Very well then!" shouted the gentleman.

The demonic carcass put both of its hands on the massive sword, then ripped it out of the ground. It ran towards the two swordsmen, continuing to screech violently. It slashed at Varren's chest with immense strength. While it's true that Varren managed to block the attack, the weight of the opposing sword combined with the force of the monster was quite enough to knock him backwards. Link quickly slashed at the creature from the side, trying to cover Varren's opening. The skeleton quickly jolted around to face the hero, blocking his slash. Link was surprised that the skeleton could move so quickly with such a large weapon, but he continued to push on. Varren regained himself as he watched the two of them struggle for dominance. He had no _idea_ that Link was so physically able! Varren quickly ran towards the mass of bones, then slashed at its back. His sword simply bounced off the creature's heavy armor. How thick could that breastplate possibly be? Noticing that Varren was taking advantage of its weakness, it pushed Link aside with a sudden burst of strength, sending the Hero of Time tumbling across the floor. The demonic being screeched again as it slashed at Varren's side. Once more, Varren was quick enough to block the attack, but was completely helpless before the raw power of the mighty creature; he was knocked on the floor, just as Link was. With no one to cover up Varren's weakness this time, the creature acted quickly. It raised its sword high into the air with both of its hands gripping it tightly. Varren looked above him to notice the event that was about to take place; he quickly rolled out of the way to avoid the slash. "What on earth is this thing!?" the gentleman cried, moving to his feet in a rushed manner.

The mass of bones screeched as it charged towards Varren once more. Suddenly, rising above the volume of the nightmarish shriek, the gentleman could hear the voice of Link coming from up above. "Tsyah!" Varren looked upwards to see the young hero coming down at the creature. Link slammed his sword against the skeleton's helmet as hard as he could. What happened next completely astonished Varren. Link's sword somehow managed to slice through the being as a whole, cutting it in two in an instant. An impulse of negative energy burst from the skeleton, flying high up into the air until it went through the ceiling.

Varren stared at Link in amazement. "How on earth could your sword possibly have been that sharp? It sliced through that thing as a whole!" Link smirked momentarily. He pointed his sword upwards to reveal its majesty. There was a strange symbol on the sword's hilt. There were three, yellow triangles, all together to form a massive triangle. Varren stared at the three shapes on the hilt. 'They're just… triangles. Wait a minute. Triangles, triangles, triangles, Triforce, tri is for three, three portions of the Triforce, three triangles—this sword is related to the Triforce!' He stared at the blade in awe. "What do you call such an amazing weapon?" he inquired.

Link sheathed his sword, then walked upstairs to where Varren had found the door. "The Master Sword…" he quietly replied.

"The Master Sword?" echoed Varren. Hesitantly, he walked up the stairs as well, following Link. "Truly a suitable name, if it can do something like that to a person completely coated in armor." Link chuckled quietly at Varren's comment, but made no legitimate reply. The Hero of Time placed the key inside the keyhole, where it belonged. The thought of where Link _got_ the key crossed Varren's mind. 'Where did he get that, then…?' he thought.

A dark, rumbling voice echoed around the room, interrupting Varren's thoughts. It was extremely loud, yet somehow, it was whispering. "The species you see on this door have been existent since the dawning of time… Choose carefully…"

A moment of silence passed. Both of them were waiting to see if the voice had any more to say. When several more seconds of silence passed, Varren shuttered at the eerie tone of the voice. "Creepy…"

Link nodded, but he didn't seem to be at all phased by it. The green hero simply walked closer to the door, staring at it with a gaze full of thoughtfulness. "Hmm…"

Varren noticed the look of thought in Link's eyes. He couldn't help but smile. He always loved it when people around him were thinking. It showed that they were smart, if they were actually willing to use their brains to begin with. He walked over to the door, tilting his head to the side at the newfound puzzle. "Alright," he said, "all it said was that these creatures have always been around… but what could it want us to do with the pictures?" Link simply shrugged at Varren's question; he obviously didn't have the answer. The great Hero of Time was absolutely clueless. Varren let out a sigh in annoyance. "You're no help at all," he quietly complained to himself. He stared at the symbols that were within the circles. "A fish… an eagle… and a bear… What could it mean…?"

Slowly, Link placed his hand on the inner circle's symbol: the one with the eagle. He slid his hand across it, and just as he did so, the stone slid with it. It rolled to the left from an eagle to a bear. "Hmm…" he slid his hand again. Now the inner ring contained a fish.

Varren observed Link, trying to figure out what he was planning. "What are you trying to do?" he inquired out of sheer curiosity.

"I think we need to put these in order..." Link softly responded.

Varren sighed in frustration. He looked down to his feet. "Alright, so how are we supposed to know which is the right order?"

"It said that these have been existent since the dawning of time… That isn't true…" Link patted the inner circle with the fish. "In Days of Old, the only legitimate life forms were the creatures of the deep…" Varren stared at the Hero of Time in amazement. Perhaps he_was_ a great help after all! Link placed his hand on the middle layer, the one which was another fish. He slid it over, letting the stone roll over until it stopped on the eagle. "According to legend, the next came birds… That's why some places find them as such precious creatures, here in Hyrule… Or at least they used to, centuries ago…" He slid his hand up to the symbol of the bear on the outer ring, patting it gently. "The newest species to enter creation were the mammals…"

Varren stared at Link in admiration. "Where on earth did you learn such valuable information?" he asked, his eyes shining with excitement.

The Hero of Time slipped his hand away from the door's symbols. He placed a hand on his head as he looked upwards at the ceiling. "I'm… not sure… I just knew it somehow…"

Varren's eyes slowly began to lose their excitement. They were replaced with a look of curiosity. 'Just how long have you been reincarnating yourself, Link…?' he thought, staring at the green hero in wonder. Link pushed on the door. It opened without any problems in the slightest; Link had solved the riddle with the information he gained from an unknown source. Varren saw it as a truly remarkable fact. He walked into the next room, gazing around the area cautiously. This room was humongous! There were two hallways that he saw, and they were both two the right of them. There was one of them which was closer, and the other which was further away… What kind of challenge was this? "Is this a maze?" he thought aloud. Link didn't bother to answer Varren's question. He simply walked ahead of him, then walked down the hallway which was the closest to them. Hesitantly, Varren followed behind the hero. "Do you know where you're going?" he inquired.

Link shook his head. "Nope…" he replied. The area was quiet enough for a voice even as soft as Link's to echo across the room.

"Wonderful..." Varren said sarcastically. He followed Link down the next hallway, which was the only one available to them. It went to the left. It didn't last very long, though; there was soon another hallway that was to the right. Unlike the previous one, this one was extremely long. It had two options. There were two more hallways which were also to the right. One of them was closer, while the other one was further away. Varren assumed that they should go with the closer one again, simply because it had worked for them in the past. He began to take lead as he walked down the nearest hallway. Link uncertainly followed behind him. As soon as he got down this hallway, Varren realized that it was a mistake. It was a dead end. Varren turned around, sighing in annoyance. Link scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do.

Suddenly, iron bars came from the ceiling, then locked themselves firmly on the ground. Link and Varren both gazed at the bars in bewilderment. They had been trapped. To add to the scenario, Varren thought he heard growling coming from behind him; he turned around to see if anything was there. He assumed that Link must've heard it as well, for he also turned around to gaze upon the area. A dark silhouette of a lion slowly slipped out from the wall, in front of the two of them. Its eyes were a piercing red. There were no whites to them, no pupils or anything—just purely red. It growled at them once again, prowling closer. Link recognized the creature as evil, while Varren recognized the creature's energy source. It was the same energy that burst out from the skeleton when it was cut in two. This was a being made of sheer _energy_! But who had enough power to do something like that? And who could have enough darkness in their hearts to have all of these beings fueled by negative energy?

Interrupting Varren's thoughts, the incarnation of darkness leapt towards Link, roaring monstrously. Link sidestepped to the left in order to dodge the lion's pounce, then slashed at the beast. The creature dissipated upon impact, the darkness gently floating up into the air, rather than exploding violently, as the skeleton had done. It was obvious that that foe was a minor one.

Surprisingly, the bars removed themselves from the ground, slipping back up into the ceiling. Was that really all there was to it…? Hesitantly, Varren walked out of the dead ended area they had momentarily been trapped in. Link followed behind him, looking around the area with caution. This time they knew to take the hallway that was the furthest down.

To their left was yet _another_ pair of hallways located to the right of them, one closer to them, the other further away from them. "This is getting a little repetitive…" Varren mumbled. He could tell that Link most certainly agreed with him by the sigh he let out of sheer annoyance. "Well, since the hallway that was the furthest down worked for us last time… perhaps it would work for us this time? Well, then again, the last time I followed that logic I ended up getting the both of us trapped by mistake…" Link nodded, looking back and forth at the hallways, from the one closer, to the one furthest away. Varren let out a hum in thought. "Still though… just because that logic trapped us before, doesn't mean that it automatically cancels out the possibility of there being the correct path twice in a row... I say we give it a shot!" He turned to Link, smiling at him. "What do you say?" Link simply let out another sigh in a response, though this one was out of tiredness, rather than annoyance. He nodded his head, ready to try Varren's tactics.

The two of them walked towards the hallway which was the furthest away, then turned to walk down it. The results made Varren smile. There was only one hallway to choose from: the one to the left. At last, no more confusion. Varren led the way, walking down the new hallway. This one was a rather long one. It continued to the right. They ventured forth. The hallway then turned to the left. As they continued, they saw that it turned right once again, and then to the left. The hallway seemed to split into two fragments when they went to the right for a final time. There were two options to choose from. Of course. Varren rolled his eyes in annoyance. He could either go to the right side of the new area, or to the left. "Okay, that's it," Varren said, fed up with all of this confusion. "I've had enough of randomly guessing like a simple-minded mongrel." The gentleman put his finger inside his mouth, then held it in the air. Link stared at Varren questioningly, tilting his head to the side. Varren could tell that he was confused. "There _has_ to be an exit. Since that's the case, there must be a legitimate source of oxygen. Whichever way the wind blows is the way the oxygen leads, and where there's oxygen, there's freedom, and right now, I say that the oxygen is located..." he pointed to the left. "that way! C'mon, let's go!" Link quietly chuckled at Varren's newfound enthusiasm. He followed the gentleman, just as he had requested.

The followed the hallway to its end, which happened to be a massive gap in the wall. Suddenly, Varren heard laughter of a familiar voice coming from the other end. He walked through the gap to see a familiar pale figure, sitting in a rocky throne in a comfortable position. Link walked in after Varren. He stared at the pale figure, tilting his head in confusion.

Ghirahim was tapping his finger on the arm of his throne made from rock. He was smiling at the two of them with pure amusement sparkling in his eyes. "I must admit, you two are truly impressive! You've managed to complete all three of the trials… Most people don't live passed the first. You really _have_ done well in getting this far, you know. Give yourself a good round of applause." The Demon Lord arose from his throne, taking a step forward. "As for you, Varren, you wouldn't have been any different from the others if the mighty Hero of Time hadn't been by your side. _Honestly_, I'm disappointed that someone as weak as _you_ came here to challenge _me_…" His gaze traveled from Varren to Link. He stared at the young man for a long moment. Ghirahim let out a chuckle as he shook his head. "Oh how many centuries has it been since I last saw your face, hero? You caused quite the bit of trouble for me the last time I saw you…" Link stared at Ghirahim in confusion, tilting his head to the side; the Demon Lord let out another chuckle. "You honestly don't remember me, do you? Well, I suppose not. It was a past reincarnation of you, after all… The first one to ever exist, if I'm correct…"

Varren stepped forward boldly. "Enough of your chitchat," he said coldly. "I believe you've stolen something that belongs to me."

"Hm? Oh! You mean this?" Ghirahim held up his gloved hand, revealing the ring on his finger, which was still pulsing with dark blue energy. "I'm sorry, Varren, but I'm afraid that this doesn't belong to you anymore. As of now, it belongs to _me_."

Varren took another step forward, glaring at Ghirahim. Link growled quietly, growing angry with the villain's behavior. "I'm going to ask you to give it back to me only one time, Ghirahim," Varren warned. "If you don't hand it over to me peacefully, I'll have to take it from you by force."

Ghirahim threw his head back, laughing hysterically. His laughter only infuriated Link even further. As for Varren, he was blushing a dark red in embarrassment. "Is that supposed to be a threat?" asked the Demon Lord. "You can't even take on a small group of my men without coming out of the battle injured! And you, Hero of Time, you thought that someone as pathetic as _Ganondorf_ was the strongest opponent that you've ever fought! Not to mention the fact that I have this newly acquired power to surpass yours even further! You have no chance of victory, I'm afraid."

Varren growled, scowling at Ghirahim in disgust. "Your pride sickens me…"

"Pride?" echoed the Demon Lord. "No, no, by all means, I'm being absolutely sincere with you. I'm simply telling you the truth! If you decide to battle me, it will end with your defeat…"

Link had finally had enough. He jumped high into the air, unsheathing the Master Sword. With a mighty blow, he swung down hard at Ghirahim's temple. "Tsyah!"

Varren couldn't agree more with Link's reaction. He, too, unsheathed his weapon. "Challenge accepted!" he shouted, running towards the pale man.

Ghirahim only smirked at their attempts to strike him. Varren was the one who got to him first. Ghirahim slammed a powerful kick onto Varren's stomach. The impact forced the air out of Varren's lungs, and sent him tumbling across the ground. He crashed hard into the stone wall. He looked up at the oncoming blow from above that Link was delivering. He simply held out his hand. The moment Link's blade made contact with Ghirahim's skin, the Demon Lord grabbed Link's sword, holding it in between two fingers. Varren weakly rose to his feet, staring at the scene displayed before him with a terrified awe. The Hero of Time landed on the ground. He struggled against Ghirahim's power, trying to break free from his grip. Ghirahim laughed softly at Link's pathetic attempts to struggle. In an instant, the Demon Lord reached forward even further to grab hold of Link's arm. He threw him across the room, sending him crashing against the wall.

Varren ran towards Ghirahim once again. He slashed at the Demon Lord's throat with the upmost intent to kill. However, the pale man only did to Varren's attack what he did to Link's: he held the blade in between both fingers. Unlike what he did to Link, however, he simply crossed his fingers. Varren's blade snapped in two, turning it into what looked like a joke of a short dagger. Ghirahim spun around, landing a roundhouse kick on Varren's chest. The gentleman was hurled across the room. In midair, his back slammed against the stone walls; he screamed in pain before he landed pathetically on the ground, as if he was a ragdoll.

Link came from behind Ghirahim, then slashed at his back. The Demon Lord vanished just before the blade made contact with him. He reappeared behind the hero, placing a hand on his shoulder. Link froze. He was startled by both the fact that Ghirahim had disappeared, and also by the sudden hand on his shoulder. "Come now, Link…" he whispered into the hero's ear. "Surely you didn't think that I would fall for something as classical as that? Oh… and I think that you had the wrong motivation with your attack strategy… This is much more effective, if you're going to come at me from behind..." Ghirahim straightened his remaining hand before shoving it into Link's back as if it were a blade. Link screamed out in pain, blood leaking from his mouth.

Varren's eyes widened. "Link!" he cried, reaching forward at him.

The Demon Lord chuckled a bit. "And to think that _you_ caused so many problems for _me_. What on earth happened to you, Link?" He stuffed his hand deeper into Link's back; the young man screamed louder in absolute agony. The most resistance he could muster up against Ghirahim's might was a slight twitch every few seconds. "Hero of Time… What on earth happened?" He ripped his hand out of Link's back violently, getting another cry of misery out of him. Blood poured from the hero's back as he writhed on the ground in agony.

"Stop it!" Varren demanded, rising to his feet weakly.

Ghirahim turned his gaze from Link to the gentleman himself. "Hm? Oh yes, I'd nearly forgotten about you. You must forgive me… but you have no _idea_ how good it feels to do that."

"Don't talk about him like he's your punching bag!" he shouted, stepping forwards boldly. "He's a human being who's in pain! He's suffering!"

The Demon Lord chuckled lightly, licking his lips. "Yes, he certainly is…" Suddenly, Ghirahim vanished, then reappeared in front of Varren in an instant. He spent a moment simply gazing down upon Varren with that same, eerie look he gave him when they first met. Ghirahim quickly grasped Varren's arm with a firm, tight grip. With a murderous yank, filled with unspeakable power, the Demon Lord viciously ripped Varren's arm out of its socket; he screamed wildly in pain, falling on the ground as he writhed around uncontrollably, clenching at his stub of a shoulder. "And now he won't feel so lonely," he teased. Ghirahim observed the ring on his finger, holding it up to the ceiling. "Well, I must say that I'll be looking forward to deciphering a strategy on traveling the universe in search of the rest of your energy, Varren. I honestly should be off, so… ta-ta."

Suddenly, a blast of dark blue energy exploded uncontrollably from Varren's chest. The impact tossed Link across the room, slamming his already-injured back against the wall. Ghirahim's eyes widened in surprise. The Demon Lord wasn't aware that Varren possessed that kind of power! Ghirahim didn't get thrown across the room like Link had, but it knocked his right arm to the side. "Eugh!" The force of the blast knocked the ring off of his finger. As powerful as the explosion was, it was over in an instant. Ghirahim was panting weakly, clenching at his right arm. "I'll have to admit, Varren… I didn't expect that… Be wary, for next time we meet, you can assure yourself that I'll be prepared…" In a flash, Ghirahim vanished, unaware of his lost trinket.

Varren was resting on the ground, staring at the ceiling. This was strange. He thought that he would be in pain, especially considering the fact that his arm was ripped off, but for some reason, he didn't feel harmed in the slightest. Perhaps his brain had simply stopped the nervous system from working properly due to the amount of pain he was experiencing…? He sighed, slowly looking to what he expected to be his stub of an arm. His eyes widened when he saw that there wasn't a stub of an arm, but a _full_ arm! His arm had grown back! But… But how was this possible? Varren stared at his arm in confusion for a moment longer, trying to figure out how this had happened.

Suddenly, Varren heard Link moaning in pain, still somewhat writing around on the ground. Unlike Varren, the young man hadn't instantly healed from his wounds. He quickly ran over to Link, kneeling down in front of him. 'There has to be something I can do to help him!' he thought desperately. 'Come on, Varren! Think!' Memories flashed before his eyes. The first trial of this dungeon, the Argonians. He had been injured. Link gave him a healing potion, and he drank it. Afterwards, Link had said that there was one more healing potion left. That was his chance! Quickly, Varren dug into Link's pocket in search for the healing potion that would potentially save the hero's life. It felt unbearably awkward to do so, but he needed to it in order to save the life of his friend. Oh no, his eyes were beginning to droop. Varren could only hope that it was simply the loss of consciousness, and not what he feared it would be. The gentleman acted quickly, pulling the remaining healing potion from Link's pocket. He patted the hero's cheek repeatedly with his remaining hand. "Link? Link! Can you hear me?" In a response, Link weakly nodded his head. Varren sighed in relief, even though he knew that the true crisis wasn't quite over yet. He held up the healing potion, showing it to the wounded hero. "Do you see this? Remember this? This is a healing potion. You need to drink this, Link, and then you'll feel all better after you do so. Be prepared to swallow. Can you do that?" Once again, Link could only give a weak nod of his head. God, he looked so pathetic right now. Acting out of a strange, protective instinct, Varren gently dipped the bottle forward slightly, trickling it into Link's mouth. The Hero of Time gently let it drizzle down his throat. It was as if he was too weak to even attempt to swallow! Oh no, that was most _certainly_ not good! 'Calm down, Varren, calm down. At least he's taking it in, right? He'll be fine soon, just don't worry.' At last, the entirety of the healing potion had been consumed. Varren let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he could at least attempt to relax…

Link's eyes were getting lower though… in fact, it looked as if they were completely closed. Varren's concern arose once more. "Link? Link, can you hear me? Link? Link!?" In a panicked frenzy, Varren felt around for Link's heart. He forced himself to pause, resting the palm of his hand on Link's chest… There was a pulse. Varren sighed in relief. "You're just asleep… scared me, you did." Varren stood up above Link, smiling at him. His gaze traveled from the hero to the ring that had fallen off of Ghirahim's arm… Slowly, Varren picked up the ring. The dark blue energy from within burst outwards, then into him. He shook himself, trying to get used to that energized feeling. "My, that's invigorating!" There was a moment of panting, trying to calm himself down. Then he looked back at Link.

"Well, I suppose I should get you back home… Zelda's probably worried about you." In fact, he did just that. The gentleman picked up Link from the ground, carrying him back to his village. When he'd gotten out of the dungeon, he couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that night had already come once more. Rather than bringing Link to his own house, he brought him to Zelda's. He knocked on the door with his foot, kicking it lightly, so that way he wouldn't sound as if he was trying to break into her house.

Zelda opened the door. "Ye—?" she gasped when she saw Link unconscious in Varren's arms. "What happened? Is he okay?"

Varren chuckled gently. He nodded. "Yes, yes, he's fine; don't worry yourself, ma'am. He's just unconscious is all. I've given him a healing potion, so that should indeed help out with most of his injuries, but still, make sure that he doesn't do too much, alright? Keep him well rested… And I'm serious about making sure that he doesn't do too much. He needs his time to heal." Zelda nodded slowly. Her eyes were locked on Link the entire time, but she was listening intently to what Varren was saying. "May I rest him in your house, ma'am?" he politely asked.

Zelda nodded again. "Y-Yes, you may. Rest him anywhere you want…" She stepped out of the way to let Varren rest Link on the couch. However, Varren did something that was rather unexpected for her. Instead of putting Link on the couch, he put him on Zelda's bed. She blushed lightly. "Why are you putting him _there_?" she asked. "I thought you were going to put him on the couch."

Varren pulled the covers over Link, making sure that he wouldn't freeze. "Zelda, you once told me that this bed was meant for two, but you were saving that spot for 'someone special.' In my opinion… I can easily tell that Link has feelings for you. I could see it when I came over here to eat with you yesterday… He loves you. He may not be talkative… and he may be a bit too afraid to say it, but it's true. I know that this man, the Hero of Time… loves _you_, Zelda…" He smiled warmly at her, patting on the opposite side of the bed that Link was on. "Now come on. Rest with him… Make him happy."

Zelda blushed darkly. She nodded. "Right… I will… Could you leave us?"

Varren's smile never faded. He put his fedora hat on his chest as he gave a polite bow. "Yes, of course…" With that, Varren walked outside to leave them be. He figured that he'd most certainly done quite enough in this world. He'd absorbed another fraction of his energy, he'd driven a new villain away, he'd helped two people better fall in love with each other—it was high time that he left. Varren stretched, walking back over to the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. "Alright, computer," said the gentleman, "take me as close as you can to Darmaque in a single trip, please."

"Yes, master Varren," the guide emotionlessly replied. With that, the fraction of the black hole spun around rapidly within the glass. The black saucer began to levitate into the air, and with a mighty push from the black hole's power, a worm hole was opened in front of the ship. In an instant, they took off, into the hole.


	6. Gem in the Wrong Hands

The CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN came to a sudden halt, as it usually did. In an instant, it had once again appeared into an entirely different plain of existence. The projection of the ship's guide appeared in front of Varren. She spoke with a monotone voice. "We have arrived, master Varren, to the closest to Darmaque's location as we can possibly be."

Varren smiled confidently. "Alright then. Tell me specifically where we are, guide. What's _this _place called?"

The guide took no time at all to give him a direct reply. "Answer: We are in Sulfiche, a city populated by humans. This particular city is the location of a powerful wizard, who has many apprentices to follow him. Do not fear this wizard though, for he has been the protagonist to this city, protecting it from all foreign dangers."

The gentleman's eyes brightened with interest. "Such adventurous things... We're in a realm of existence where magic is possible? Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering the fact that it was possible in the other two realms I was in... Let's take a look outside and see what this new place looks like." Varren walked over to the exiting door, then opened it, expecting to see a small, medieval city. Instead, he simply found that he was in the middle of a forest. He stared at the vast area of trees in confusion. "Guide, I thought you said that we were in a city."

"Yes, Varren, indeed I did. We are in the city's entrance. Keep moving forwards, and then you'll arrive at your desired location."

"Hmm... that's certainly inconvenient, but very well." He walked outside of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, walking through the woods. He looked around at the terrain he was in. He saw that there was a lake just next to him. The water looked so pure, he could easily see the bottom of it without straining his eyes, or looking closely. Continuing to march onward to his destination, he had an eager look in his eyes, one of adventure, and excitement. However, his light attitude was interrupted in an instant. He could feel something... it was as if he could detect another person... no, two other people. It was as if he could see that they were directly behind him... but that couldn't be real, could it? It had to be simple paranoia. The gentleman simply shrugged it off, continuing to walk on.

As a result of him simply ignoring the lifeforms he sensed behind him, he was taken off guard as he felt two blasts pound against his back. He was forced forward, landing face-first on the ground. He tried to get up to see who it was, but in an instant, red, energetic chains bound his hands and feet. "We've got him!" shouted a voice from behind.

"Don't get too cocky," said the other. "We've got to ensure our victory." Varren struggled, just barely turning half way around to see two men, wearing brown cloaks, hooded to cover their faces. The one to the left was holding one hand outwards, red chains coming from his finger tips. He waved his other hand, then poked in Varren's direction. Upon doing so, it appeared as if there was a ripple in air, a sight which fascinated and terrified Varren at the same time. Varren tried to utter inquiries and demands, but for some reason or another, he couldn't find the power to speak a word. Slowly, he could feel his eyelids begin to grow heavier. What was going on? _What's..._ Unable to finish his thought, Varren fell into unconsciousness.

**Elsewhere... **

Without any warning, the Demon Lord was just inches away from landing uncomfortably on the ground. However, he instantly caught himself by planting his hand on the ground, avoiding any unnecessary pain. Rising to his feet, Ghirahim looked around the area. He was in a barren wasteland... In front of him was a cave of some kind. It was decorated with bones and warpaint... it looked like some kind of semi-intelligent beast's home. "Where am I...?" he thought aloud.

Suddenly, he heard loud cries echoing from inside the cave. It sounded like a group of monsters cheering for something... Out of curiosity, Ghirahim sneaked his way closer to the insides of the cave. Once he was a few inches in, he placed his back against the wall, trying to let the shadows hide him. He peaked forward to look at what was going on inside. What he saw had taken him off guard. There was a massive, humanoid creature. His skin was a very light green, and he hard a large horn growing from the top of his head. In between his shoulders were two heads, and on the shoulders themselves were spiked armor pads. He was surrounded by creatures who looked like him, only smaller. In the giant creature's hand was a gem, flowing with the familiar dark blue energy that Ghirahim was after.

The Demon Lord smirked malevolently. "Well, look at what we have here..." he whispered quietly to himself. Taking his first step out of the shadows, Ghirahim summoned his sword to his hand.

**With Varren... **

"Sir, we've brought what appears to be an intruder! We believe that he is one of the many who have been possessed by the Ogre's darkness!"

"Oh really? Lift him up. Let me see for myself..." Varren could feel himself rise to his feet. In front of him was a blurry figure of a man. He couldn't make out any further details, other than the gender. Most he saw were just shapes and colors that he had to piece together in order to figure out what they actually were. "No," the man in front of him said, "this guy hasn't been possessed by the darkness." He turned his gaze to the other two behind Varren. "And yet you captured him, knocked him unconscious, and then brought him to me? Didn't you sense for any negativity?"

"N-No sir," Varren heard, "we didn't..."

"You blithering idiots. You should know better!"

"W-We're sorry. We've been through three attacks from those beings on this very day; it only seemed natural that another one would come after us... We must've gotten careless and didn't bother to sense, since... there were... so..." his words trailed away.

The man in front of Varren sighed. "Oh for the love of..." He looked at Varren curiously. "Wait a minute... what's this energy that he has...?" The man began to smack Varren in the face repeatedly. "Come on, wake up. I know you can hear me in there; you're at least _partly _conscious. Wake up, now!"

Varren shook his head, not wanting to get slapped anymore. Slowly, the shapes and colors began to form in together into actual figures that he could see clearly. The man in front of him was sitting in a throne. He was wearing a white, fur cape, and held a massive staff in his right hand. The gentleman stared at the man in confusion. "Who are you?" he inquired.

The man let out a chuckle. "That's weird. You get captured unjustly, knocked out, get stuck in a place you've never seen before, and the only question that you have in store for me is who I am?"

Varren paused for a moment. He blushed in embarrassment, feeling as if he should have a mind filled with more intellect for seeming relatively... stupid. He nodded his head though, despite his embarrassment. "Yes, that's all. Tell me who you are, please."

The man smirked, rising from his throne. He slammed his staff on the ground, causing flickers of green, blue and purple to flash all around him. "I am the strongest wielder of magic in Sulfiche. I am a ray of light in this never ending ocean of darkness. I am the one who will defend this city, whatever the cost may be. I am... the Great Wizard, Chad!"

Upon saying these words, behind Chad's throne, a small explosion of colors took place, almost blinding Varren. Once the explosion was over, however, the remaining colors that were flickering around the wizard faded away. Varren stared at Chad. "So your name is... 'Chad'? Just Chad? Nothing fancy?"

Chad frowned at Varren, folding his arms. "What, do you have a problem with my name?"

One of the apprentices said in a sly tone, "The Great Wizard Chad, making an accusation of insults."

Varren blinked, trying to ignore what'd just happened. He tried to stay on topic, not wanting to lose his formality. "No, no, I don't have a problem with your name. It's just... well, I've seen lots of names which are very unique. To see a name such as 'Chad' combined with the fact that this 'Chad' character seems to have a lot of power... it seems rather unfit, in my opinion... But hey, that's just what _I _think." Varren smiled at Chad in an attempt to make up for anything that he said which could've been rude.

The Great Wizard simply did his best to ignore his hurt feelings. "Well alright then..." He slumped down back in his throne, letting out a sigh. "I'm really sorry about my apprentices unfairly kidnapping you, mister..."

"Varren," said the gentleman, "my name's Varren."

"Right. Sorry about those people kidnapping you, Varren. God, this is getting so out of hand..." Chad placed his his thumb and forefinger on his eyebrows, letting out another sigh in annoyance. "There're so many people getting turned into mindless beasts because of that blasted darkness getting into their hearts, all because the Ogres managed to get some kind of mystical object before _us_. Just one little mistake and it all goes to hell..."

Varren tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?" he inquired. "Who are the Ogres, and how are they doing all of this?"

The Great Wizard looked at Varren, somewhat surprised by his curiosity. _Maybe this guy would be willing to help us out, if we asked him..._ "Well, the Ogres have been practicing some kind of ritual where they can take negative energy and give it a soul of its own. They can only do that much with the negative energy that _they _create; they couldn't really take control of other peoples' darkness or anything. Well, not normally anyway..." Chad sighed, looking up at the ceiling as he leaned back on his throne like a recliner. "Those damn Ogres managed to figure out a way to strengthen their spells on their own... That way they could control the darkness of other people, but only if they had a few hours of patience. However, now that they've got this new gem of some kind, they have enough power to give life to someone's inner darkness while it's still inside them, and make it fight against the original. Fight, and win. Not only can they do that in just a matter of seconds, but they can do it from a _long _distance, _and _they can do it on multiple people at a single time of motion. I've seen it happen before with my own eyes... I'd go over there myself to finish the job and kill the spell caster, but I have a feeling that I'm not strong enough to do it on my own."

One of the apprentices in the corner said, "The Great Wizard Chad, uncertain of his abilities." A few of the others began to snicker quietly to themselves.

Chad let out a sigh, looking at Varren. "Say, you're new here, aren't you? Would you happen to know anything at all about that strange gem the Ogres have?"

"Well, I might," Varren replied, "but I can't be one-hundred percent certain that I do unless you give me a vivid description as to what this empowered gem looks like. Describe to me its appearance, and I'll see what I can do."

The Great Wizard groaned in annoyance, racking away at his brain in an attempt to remember. "I've only seen it once, so... I don't really know what it looks like all too well. All I know is that it has some strange kind of energy, a lot like yours, actually. It has a dark-blue color to it... Since it has similar magical properties to yours, I thought that you might know something about it. Do you?"

Varren's eyes widened. _That's another fragment!_ he internally exclaimed. The gentleman eagerly nodded his head. "Yes, yes, I know about it alright. It's actually apart of my energy stream, hence why you were able to find some similarities from it to me. I can't exactly explain to you how apart of me got to this plain of existence, but I _can _tell you that that gem is the whole reason why I'm here. I've come looking for those, as well as an evil overlord named Darmaque, who seeks to enslave all the universe. My aim is to stop him, but I don't think that I'm quite powerful enough... I need to find all the missing fragments of my energy in order to stand a chance against him. I'll gladly help you in infiltrating the Ogre's hideout, if you're certain that he has the energy source I'm looking for. Please, take me to it."

"Okay," Chad said casually.

One of the apprentices looked at Chad in confusion. "Um, sir, are you sure about this? I mean, someone's energy, scattered across the universe? That sounds a bit... unbelievable, don't you think? How's that even possible? I... I don't think that we should believe what this guy tells us. We've only known him for, like, twenty minutes."

Chad smirked at his apprentice. "Oh come on. I'm the Great Wizard Chad; I can sense darkness. Lies are a form of darkness, so that means that I can tell when someone's telling bullshit. There wasn't a single lie coming from this guy's mouth. If he says that it's his energy, it's his. This is a win-win situation, guys. He helps us kill the leader of the Ogres, and we help him retrieve his gem. When we kill the Ogre captain, the spell that's been plaguing innocent people with pure darkness will be broken. He wins, we wins, we all go home happy." The Great Wizard grabbed onto Varren's wrist. "C'mon, breh. Let's go kill some Ogres." Before Varren could question himself why Chad was pronouncing "bro" like... "breh," they were both teleported into an entirely different location. In an instant, they'd gone from a honey yellow metal room to a forest. "There," said Chad. "We're about three-fourths of the way there. We should be there in about, oh... ten minutes."

Varren blinked in confusion. "Chad, if you can teleport, then why didn't you just transport us directly in front of their base?"

The Great Wizard scowled at Varren. "Oh come on. The Teleportation Cast takes a lot of magic to use, but for me, the one and only Great Wizard Chad, it's nothing in the slightest going this distance. Any further and I'd be straining myself. I'm not going to waste a good amount of magic just for a crappy Teleportation Cast. Now come on, we've got an Ogre to kill!" Without giving Varren a chance to reply, he marched off, moving directly ahead.

With hesitance, Varren followed. _So..._ Varren thought,_ apparently teleporting takes a lot of energy to use, hmm? Well, maybe I could learn that from him after all of this fuss is over? It could come in handy sometime..._

Down the forest, the wizard and the gentleman walked towards the Ogres' base, wherever that may have been. Varren hadn't a clear idea... but he'd hoped that Chad was right in that the gem's energy was quite similar to his own. If it happened to be that this gem didn't contain his energy, then this entire mission would have been for not.

**With Ghirahim...**

Sparks flew, metal clashed. The massive Ogre leader had two massive battle axes, both of which were slamming against Ghirahim's sword. The Demon Lord chuckled playfully, smirking at how much effort his groggy opponent seemed to be putting into pushing against his blade. Ghirahim effortlessly eased his blade forwards, pushing the massive Ogre chief backwards. However, the leader wouldn't lose his ground without a fight, quite obviously. His feet were dragging across the ground. Ghirahim continued to smirk at the Ogre, their clashing blades covering half of his face. His one visible eye seemed to be filled with a demonic, childish delight. "Well," he said, "you really aren't that bad, are you?"

The massive Ogre grunted, using all the force in his body. "How is a pipsqueak like _you _so much stronger than _me_!?" he shouted. Out of the blue, the leader of the small Ogre tribe kicked harshly at Ghirahim's chest. However, the Demon Lord only used his remaining hand to grab a tight hold of the giant monster's foot.

Ghirahim gazed down at the Ogre's foot with that same sick joy in his eyes. "My... You certainly do have a wonderful foot, don't you? You've been walking on it nearly your entire life, since you were but a tot..." The Demon Lord smirked at the Ogre. "Let's just see how much you value this foot of yours, hmm?" He chuckled quietly, letting his finger wrap around the Ogre's biggest toe. The gargantuan foe hadn't the slightest clue what Ghirahim was on about. All he knew was that he wasn't going to let some newcomer take away his most prized possession. He pulled hard, trying to escape from Ghirahim's grip. However, the Demon Lord wouldn't budge. "This little piggy went to market..." with what seemed to be a simple pluck, Ghirahim snatched away the Ogre's biggest toe on his foot. The titanic monstrosity screamed out in pain, dropping his battle-axes to cling tightly at ankle. The Demon Lord smirked at the 'mighty' Ogre leader's pain. He playfully wrapped his other finger around the toe that the big toe was next to. "This little piggy stayed at home..." Another pluck, however, this removal wasn't as clean as the first. The toe snapped, breaking the bone in half, revealing what was left of the bone of the Ogre leader's toe. The gigantic creature only screamed out in pain once more. With a sick delight, Ghirahim merrily continued. He raised his sword in the air. "This little piggy had roast beef..." he brought his blade upon the Ogre's third toe, slicing it open. He took his time in detaching this one from the foot, unlike the others. The Ogre could only scream out in agony, even though he wanted to do so much more. He wanted to slice Ghirahim's throat open for what he'd done, but the amount of pain that he was in was too immense. He could only sit there and take the heat. The Demon Lord felt no regret for torturing the Ogre in the most demonic way possible. If anything, he felt pleasure. He simply continued with his little game. "This little piggy had none..." Swinging his blade back upwards, he cut off one of the two remaining toes. The Ogre could only let out yet another screech in pain as his severed toe flew just over his head. This was a nightmare. What he'd never even considered as meaningful in the slightest in the past had suddenly become the most precious thing in the world to him, and he was slowly losing all that remained of it. Ghirahim smirked playfully at the Ogre whilst he screamed in pain, mortifying the leader of the tribe with both pain and fear, along with psychological scars from the nursery rhyme. Ghirahim smirked, letting his sword teleport away from his current location. "And this little piggy went... 'Wee wee wee' all the way home..." Using one hand to hold the Ogre's ankle, and the other to hold what remained of his foot, the Demon Lord ripped off what remained the Ogre's foot as a whole. His opponent fell to the ground, clenching at the stub that blended into his ankle.

It sounded like the Ogre was trying to say something. It was strange to Ghirahim that he couldn't understand the message that he was trying to communicate... it was strange how much pain could turn a perfectly sensible man into a wild animal. He could only imagine how untamed_this _creature must be right now, considering the intelligence that he had when he'd first shown himself to his tribe. How pathetic... To have this _weakling _called 'chief.' Ghirahim leaned over, smiling satanically at the Ogre as he writhed in pain. "You're certainly suffering, aren't you? Here..." Ghirahim drew his hand back, his demonic smile widening. "Let me relieve you of your suffering..." With a jab, Ghirahim jammed the tip of his hand into the back of the Ogre's neck, sending his head rolling across the ground.

The rest of the minions all stared at Ghirahim in complete shock. They'd just watched someone torture their leader for amusement, and then end his very life, right before their eyes. Their chief could've easily taken all of them down singlehandedly. For someone to so easily defeat such a powerful Ogre... Ghirahim must've truly been a force to be reckoned with.

The Demon Lord only smirked to them. He walked over to the gem, which glowed with dark-blue energy. "I'll see all of you some other time, maybe... but for now, I'd best be off, before someone else gets here..." Without another word, Ghirahim vanished with the gem, taking the energy with it.


	7. Death of Villain and Rise of Question

The Great Wizard Chad and Varren had finally made it to the Ogre's hideout. "I think that the energy's here," Chad assured. "I can still feel it giving off its aura."

But Varren was uncertain. It couldn't be in there. He didn't feel the strange, yet natural attraction he'd always felt when a fragment of his energy was placed in front of him. But how could this be? Was Chad mistaken? "I'm going to be honest with you, Chad, the odds of my power being in that room aren't very high..."

"Well, let's just find out for sure then." Varren opened his mouth to ask Chad what plan he'd come up with before charging into the room full of Ogres, but before he could utter a sound, the Great Wizard blasted the door down with a massive fireball which shot from the palm of his hand.

Chad stormed inside, and Varren reluctantly followed. To greet them were several startled, almost horrified Ogres. There was a massive Ogre, headless, and flat on the ground. Blood leaked from his neck. "Good Lord," he said, gazing at the scene displayed before him. The decapitated body, along with the quivering minions, it seemed as if there had been a slaughter! But this didn't make any sense. Who could have done this...? "What happened here, then?" he asked, looking at the remaining Ogres.

Chad glanced at Varren in uncertainty. He was extremely hesitant in trusting whatever his enemies had to say, but then again, he figured that they would be honest about the death of their leader. They were usually proud of that, actually, because when their leader was killed in combat, he was to be replaced with the man who had killed him. But there was no leader here, nor was there pride in the Ogres' faces. All they showed him was fear.

"It was a demon," one of the Ogres said shakily. "A demon did this. He came here, he killed our leader, he stole our source of power, and then he left us with a headless leader..."

Another Ogre glared at Chad, then at Varren. "You two sent him!" he shouted, getting the conclusion out of seemingly nowhere.

Varren tilted his head to the side in confusion, staring at the Ogre. "Well where did you get that idea?"

"First a warrior comes and slaughters our strongest warrior, and then our worst enemy-" he glared at Chad "-arrives moments afterwards with a new partner! We may not be as 'advanced' as you humans are in technology or magic, but we are no fools! It's obvious that the Accursed Wizard Chad is the one who has sent him! And now he has come to finish the job!"

Chad raised an eyebrow. He sighed and looked down to his shoes. "Really? Really now, you think that I'm the 'Accursed' Wizard Chad. I'm sorry, but you should really pay more attention. I mean, I know we're enemies and all, but seriously, dude, I'm the Great Wizard Chad. But you know, if you want to call me the 'Accursed' Wizard Chad, I suppo-"

"You will not mock us!" shouted the Ogre. He pulled a sword from his side and pointed at the two of them. "Attack!" he shouted, attempting to remind the other Ogres of the power their leader once had had.

**Meanwhile, in Hyrule...**

Ghirahim had teleported in front of his home world, within the deep vacuum of space. There was a dark-blue, energetic bubble that was surrounding him. He stared at what lay before him, impressed with the power of this artifact which held the energy he'd used to get here, however, this place wasn't exactly where he wanted to be, so why was he here? Did this thing alter his teleportation skill?

Just as he was about to teleport again to return from whence he came, he saw a massive, black figure loom above the planet's peak. The Demon Lord stared in something between horror and astonishment as the black thing sucked in everything in its wake, ripping off a massive portion of the planet effortlessly. It roared, "Where is Varren?!" its voice echoing throughout the solar system.

Ghirahim knew then that it would only be common sense to teleport back to where he'd come from now. He'd attempted his teleportation, but he couldn't manage to move from his spot. He couldn't convert his body into energy! Something was holding him still!

As if the massive, black monstrosity noticed the Demon Lord, it turned to him slowly, tearing apart another part of the planet. "You thief!" it shouted, and then zoomed towards him, completely erasing the planet in its way.

Ghirahim tried to move, to do something in order to avoid being consumed, but it was no use. He simply couldn't move. 'Is this it?' Ghirahim thought. 'Is this really how I'm going to die? By the hands of a monster?' Ghirahim cringed, squinting his eyes shut.

The Demon Lord had been consumed, sent spiralling into the black vortex.

The black void groaned, shrieking loudly. "Varren is close! Varren is very close! But no, _no_, I shan't make it to him in time! He keeps moving, _moving faster_! Stall him, _stall him_! I need to stall him! I can't do that if I'm always one step below, though, so I'll simply get to his level of travel!"

Two figures broke off of the blackness that this creature was, both human-sized, relatively. One of the figures clenched its fist upon creation. Two tall, thin shells branched off from its head, lightning flashing in between them. The second figure looked more like the shadow of a robot more than anything. On its center, a massive red light began to glow, revealing itself to be more than a simple shadow.

"Go, my minions!" shouted the massive void. "Heed my call! Stop Varren, now, and bring him to me!"

As if they were born to serve, which they probably were, the human-like figure nodded silently before blinking away in a flash of blue lightning, while the robotic figure said, "Affirmative," before rocketing off towards the planet Varren was on at an unimaginable speed.

**With Varren...**

The gentleman's eyes widened. While it was true that he couldn't sense the fraction of his energy that well before, now he really couldn't sense it at all. It had completely vanished. "Where the devil did it go...?" he thought to himself.

Completely oblivious to Varren's situation, the Great Wizard Chad kicked one of the Ogre's unconscious bodies. "And stay down!" he demanded, kicking the body again in something between cockiness and triumph. Panting after a long fight, he walked over to Varren to notice his look of shock that had been plastered onto his face. "Hmm? What's the matter?"

"It's gone..." Varren replied quietly, puzzling it out.

"Yeah, uh, I know that," said Chad, clearing his throat. "But that's why we've got to find it, right? You said that you've got yourself a connection with the energy of yours, so you should be able to take us right to it again."

Varren sighed, shaking his head. "No, no, you don't understand. It's the energy in itself. I can't sense it anymore... It's completely gone. The person who's stolen it, and I have a good idea as to who, must have gotten a long distance away from us in a very short amount of time. Of course that would only make sense, due to the fact that the person who I'm thinking of-I'll just call him Ghirahim in order to lessen the confusion-has the ability to teleport. But I never knew that he could teleport such a distance! He must've used the energy... It's the only logical explanation."

Chad blinked at Varren. "Whoa," he chuckled, "you're really quick to jump to conclusions, aren't you?"

The gentleman chuckled, smirking at the wizard. "Listen to this and listen carefully: I'm always one to jump to conclusions, and when I do, I'm almost always right." Varren's smirk faded, and his gaze traveled back out of the cave. "It's simply a matter if I can find a conclusion to come to or not, that's the thing. That conclusion seems highly logical in my opinion, but... where did he go?"

"Hey," said Chad, putting a hand on Varren's shoulder, "I'm sure that you'll find him in no time flat. You've got that machine that takes you to the nearest spot of the energy, yeah? Well, use that to get to where you need to be."

Varren nodded in an attempt to look reassured, but he wasn't fooling anybody. He still had a look of uncertainty on his face. "Thank you for your advice, my friend, and also I should thank you for helping me get to this point as a whole. You've done so much for me in just a matter of moments... I can say that you're a truly good man." The worried gentleman managed a slight smile. "I'm afraid that I must be off though. I've got to get back to looking for the energy and whatnot, after all."

Chad put down his hand, and smirked back at Varren. "Well hey, man, if you ever need some help again, you can just come back here. There's nothin' like having the Great Wizard Chad standin' next to you in the face of danger."

Varren chuckled, and began to walk out of the Ogres' cave. "Yes, yes, don't brag on about yourself."

Chad smiled, and followed him. The two friends walked into the depths of the forest again. It wasn't long before Chad had to leave in order to go back to his castle as ruler. "Take care of yourself, Varren," Chad had said.

"Don't worry about me, friend. I will. Good luck with running the place," he had replied.

Varren walked alone through the forest now, headed towards the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. He gazed up at the sky in thought, still puzzled by the fact that Ghirahim was able to teleport away such a distance. Even using the energy he'd acquired, it still seemed impossible that he should have the ability to teleport such a distance. How on earth did he do it, and where did he go? Why did he go there?

Could it be that he'd gone to a different planet in order to find more amulets of power? If so, how did he manage to find the location and know where to go to get them? But still, the question would remain as to how he'd gotten there to begin with! Even with his teleportation combined with the energy of the artifact, it simply wouldn't be enough for traveling at an interplanetary scale. How did he manage to do it?

Varren groaned in aggravation, clenching onto his forehead. "None of this makes any sense!" he whispered harshly to himself. "How could he have managed to leave the planet? On top of that, where did he go? Never mind how he did it, I want to know where he went!" Varren walked over to the nearest tree and slammed his head against it in sheer irritation. "He is a villain! He is dangerous, and he should not-" again his skull slammed on the tree, "-be-" again, "-roaming-" once more, "about!" a final time.

Suddenly, to interrupt his violent whispering to himself and his smashing of his head upon the tree, he heard the sound of rapid footsteps, so rapid it was almost equal to the pattern of a hummingbird's heart beat. Varren turned around from the tree quickly. The sound of scampering again was all that was there to greet him. The wind blew eerily. The gentleman cautiously looked around, uncertain of who had come for him. "Hello?" he timidly called, somewhat intimidated by the noises around him. He glanced to his left, at the mass of trees that he was surrounded by, and to his right, where more trees were there. Trees. Simply trees. Again, the rapid footsteps came, pitter pattering behind him, then to the side. He turned as soon as he'd heard the noise, trying to catch this person in the act of creeping around him. "Hello!" he called again, loudly.

No response...

Varren held his suspicious gaze at where he'd last heard the sounds. Uncertainly, he turned forward again. To meet his gaze was an upside-down creature, and a strange one at that; Varren stumbled backwards, startled.

The thing appeared to be humanoid. It had no face, no eyes, no clothes-it was just a strange silhouette of a person. It flipped forward, and landed in front of Varren with its hands behind its back. Two tall, thin shells grew from the top of its head. "Hello," it said, finally replying to Varren's calls.

The gentleman tilted his head to the side, staring at it in bewilderment. "Well, what are you?" he asked, more to himself than anyone.

As a response, the figure simply said, "Goodbye." Lightning began to zap in between its shells which were acting as antennas.

"Holy-!" Varren, realizing by now that this thing was an enemy of his, leaped to the side desperately in an attempt to avoid the lightning fast attack before it happened. What was his logic of doing this? It was simple: he couldn't have avoided a lightning fast object if it was traveling at the speed of light, because by the time he saw it, it would have already stricken him. Therefore, he had to dodge the attack before impact even seemed to be a possibility, lest he endure an unbearable pain.

The creature had already fired by that point, for Varren had heard the ground where he was standing erupt slightly and felt small chunks of rubble fall on him. Varren scrambled to his feet and unsheathed his sword, facing his opponent. It was already charging its electric energy for another attack! Out of instinct, Varren held his sword in the way in an attempt to block it. An instant later, lightning was crashing violently against his blade. He struggled to control the immense energy, which increased in strength as the continuous stream of lightning flowed out from in between the creature's antenna-shells.

Time slowed down for Varren as his own thoughts seemed to ensnare his mind from reality. What could he do at this point of time? Well, he was obviously going to lose this clash, an infant could have foretold that much would have happened. How then was he supposed to get out of here alive? He couldn't simply let the lightning strike him and die, that was unacceptable!

Gracious, what should he do! He stared at the seemingly frozen stream of lightning that was constantly flowing from the creature. It was flowing just like water. Water, water, like he was swimming. Yes, that's it! Right now his blade is swimming in electricity, and it's trying to go against the current. Of course, it was only common knowledge to Varren that it was a very stupid idea to try and swim against the water. If you didn't want to drown, you would have to let it take you elsewhere and hope for the best.

No, that idea didn't sound that appealing to him. He wanted to redirect the lightning, now that the idea had come across his mind, back onto the source of it to try and hurt it with its own technique. However, he had to be prepared. For all he knew, that probably wouldn't work on this creature that well at all, or it would make it even stronger, or it would give it back its energy that it had lost by channeling its electricity out-he wasn't sure what would happen if he redirected it. He had to play it safe, since this was the case.

Varren began to move like a professional dancer. He guided his sword across the air, and then eased his body around, pointing his sword behind where he was originally facing. As a result, the 'current' flowed off of his sword, and there was a massive bang at the sound of all of that energetic lightning crashing against the ground.

It seemed as if so much had happened in that clash, but in reality, it had only been a mere few seconds. Varren was panting, more out of adrenaline than exhaustion, or fear.

Behind him came, "Okay." His eyes widened, his breath getting caught in his throat. Hesitantly, he turned around to face the creature. It was already in front of his line of sight, its arm drawn back, hand balled into a fist. The fist then transformed itself into a sword, and it stabbed brutally at Varren.

Paralyzed with fear now (who wouldn't be afraid in the face of this being), Varren simply stood there, and squinted his eyes shut. However, the creature did not take Varren's life. It simply stabbed him in the shoulder. Varren cringed in pain, regaining his senses. He stumbled backwards, painfully ripping the blade out of his shoulder. Still panting, Varren stared at his foe, analyzing it. "You didn't kill me when you had the chance," he said. "Why didn't you kill me when you had the chance? You could have easily shoved that thing right down my forehead, but no, instead you chose to stab my shoulder, not anything vital." Varren rubbed his wound momentarily, and grasped his sword with his other hand. "Is there something holding you back, or are you simply afraid to take one's life? Or maybe is it that, for some reason or another, you simply cannot kill me?"

The figure tilted its head to the side at Varren's analysis, gazing at him with a cold silence. "Darmaque needs you alive," it said blankly.

Varren opened his mouth to ask why, but was cut short by the startling speed at which the creature was charging at him. The gentleman glared, focusing on his enemy. Once more, time slowed down for Varren as his heart beat vigorously with adrenaline and fear. Dark blue energy began to flow around him. His vision and hearing had seemed to be enhanced for some reason. He wasn't sure why it was that this was happening, but he was thankful that this was the way he had begun to operate since the unimaginable speed his foe was charging towards him with had seemed to decline to nothing but a common jog.

The monstrous being swung downwards at Varren, his arm still in blade-form. Varren could easily dodge the seemingly-slow-paced attack by swerving to the creature's side, followed by a harsh slice to the waist. Strangely enough, this foe took the attack rather nonchalantly, as if it was immune to pain. It slowly turned to face Varren's direction, electricity beginning to pulse in between its antenna-shells again. Varren, noticing the electricity, quickly ran behind the creature, who swung where he had been, a blast of lightning decimating the ground that he had been standing on.

'So it's immune to pain,' Varren thought. 'That means this one's going to be stubborn...' The dark-blue energy that was surrounding Varren sparked out as he lunged the tip of his blade into the monster's back. Once more, his foe did not seem to feel the injury. Before it had the time to even glance behind itself to look at Varren, the gentlemanly warrior broke into a sprint. Immediately he took off with an incredible speed of his own, one which, even if time _was _slowed down, made this creature's sprint seem like a retarded penguin. He slammed his foe into a tree. The impact was so powerful that it managed to snap the tree itself directly in two pieces; Varren was amazed by his suddenly-enhanced powers. He didn't stop there. Quickly, he moved forward, smashing the creature through tree after tree after tree, until finally there came a mountain. There was a small shock-wave of dust and rubble that scattered across the area when the creature was smashed face-first against the rocky inclination.

Varren yanked his blade out of the creature's back, and then stabbed it into the back of its head. It flinched slightly, its whole body tensing up. Then it relaxed, and went limp against the mountain.

The dark-blue energy swirling around Varren compacted, coating him to give him a dark-blue outline. Slowly, the outline faded. Varren was panting out of breath. "Good Lord," he said in between pauses, "I didn't have-the slightest idea that I-could do_ that_!" He looked at his hands, and tilted his head to the side. "I-I wonder where that-power came from..."

He shook his head, trying to regain his breath. "No, I should-I should simply stay focused on getting out of here. I've got to find Ghirahim, and discover-where it is that he teleported. I need that power in order to-defeat that blasted Darmaque that that-_thing_ was talking about."

Limping in exhaustion, Varren made his way back to the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. When he'd arrived, the door slid up for him, as usual. He walked inside, and then sat down on the seat next to the portion of that black hole which was spinning in the jar. "Computer!" he called. "Take me to the nearest location in which my energy resides. We need to get out of here _now_."

As a response, a blue light shone from the projector above the main screen of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, and scrolled its way up and down the room. Varren squinted his eyes in the face of this bright light. The blueness went up once more, and then made a small beeping noise upon vanishing. "I'm sorry, Varren," said the female voice, acting as the personification of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, "but I'm afraid that I cannot allow you to travel on to the next world in the condition that you're in. You must first rest in order to be physically prepared to endure what lies in our awaiting destination."

Varren sighed in annoyance, and then rested his head against the desk. "Alright, since I want to get out of here now, and you say that I need to stay here in order to rest myself so I can be healthy, I say that we make a compromise. You take me to the nearest location that holds my energy, and as for me, I will simply sleep in here until I may be able to leave and face the world." He tiredly put his head up, and rested his fist against his chin, gazing at the computer screen with empty eyes. "Would that be alright for my health if I did that?"

As a response, the machine simply said, "Now scanning crime rate in the next planet: Please wait. Processing... Processing... Processing..." Varren rolled his eyes. He always hated how long it would take to get a legitimate response out of this contraption. While it's true that the response was acceptable and understandable in proper English and all, the amount of time it took to _get _this reaction simply made Varren question whether it was worth the wait or not. Finally, the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN answered Varren's question, "Correct; it is safe for you to sleep for the night after traveling to this new planet. There are no dangerous chemicals in the air which could harm you upon leaving the ship, and there is a very low chance that you would be forced to deal with robbery, attempted murder, rape, and/or vandalism. You will be safe there, Varren."

The gentleman sighed in relief, resting his head back against the desk again. "Alright," he said, now more sleepy than utterly exhausted as he was simply moments ago. "Put up a barrier when we get there just in case something alien to the planet comes after me, please. Safety comes first."

"Yes, master Varren."

A massive wormhole split itself open into reality, and the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN began to hum loudly as it levitated into the air, just barely hovering three feet above the ground. In one swift _zoom! _the ship had entered into the wormhole.


	8. You Actually Thought He Was Dead?

Demon Lord Ghirahim stood in complete and utter darkness. He was alone, or so it seemed. It was as if he was in complete and utter isolation. There were whispers in the area, echoing all around him to ensure that the chances of silence were little to none. "Where on earth am I?" he wondered aloud.

How had he managed to get here? The last thing that he remembered, he had been sucked into darkness by that strange force—a force that appeared to be some kind of black hole. But that was impossible! Black holes didn't have a life force, and even if they did, they most certainly wouldn't have intelligence!

All at once, a bright, purple light shone ahead of him to reveal a bald silhouette of a man sitting in a tall, black throne, leaking with the black hole's energy. The figure growled at Ghirahim fiercely, his voice pulsing with infuriation. "You, _you_! Yes, you who calls himself Demon Lord Ghirahim! What were you doing with my power? Why, you're no better than that Koopa King, Bowser!"

Ghirahim stared at the figure with a blank face, gathering his senses. Slowly, an eerie smile spread across his face as his hand brushed across the hair covering his right eye. "So now it's your power, is it? I've met someone—now a good friend of mine—who's been telling me the exact same thing…"

Just as quickly as the feeling of rage had come, it vanished. The figure stood up from his seat slowly, glaring coldly at the Demon Lord. "Varren is the only other person besides me who has this energy. Tell me, is this that good friend of yours? Where would he go next?"

Ghirahim chuckled when he heard the figure ask this. He couldn't see his face, but while it was true that he could feel the cold glare that the figure was trying to give off to him, he knew that, deep down inside, this person was simply in a state of desperation. Now he was at his mercy. Ghirahim's freaky smile turned into a demented grin momentarily. Deciding to keep his cool to attempt to add on to the state of desperation this figure was in, his smile faded, and he examined his nails nonchalantly. "Oh, I'm honestly not very sure about that. I've only managed to follow him one time, and from what I've gathered, there's really no rhyme or reason as to where it is he goes."

The silhouetted figure glared at how casual Ghirahim was acting in this situation. "I've already gotten angry at you, _angry at you!_ Don't make me angry again! Tell me now, Ghirahim, where would he go next!" he shouted.

Ghirahim was simply having fun playing with this man's seemingly-fragile state of mind, but, perhaps he should cooperate with him. Seeing how mentally jumbled up he seemed to be, it shouldn't be that hard to persuade him into doing something that would result in the Demon Lord's benefit. Ghirahim chuckled, putting his hand down to his side, and turned his gaze towards the figure. "I'm still uncertain exactly where he would go, but I can tell you one thing: Every time he comes across a new place, there's a fraction of his energy there awaiting him. If you have some way to track the energy, then perhaps we could find out where it is that he's gone to…"

The figure nodded, turning its blank face to the sky. "That's easy enough to do, actually," he said, calming down from his rage immediately. "The problem for me is that I can't convert myself into energy and teleport to his whereabouts."

Another eerie smile formed from the Demon Lord's lips; a clever, selfish plan had hatched in his mind. "Oh?" said Ghirahim in a rather innocent voice. "And why's that?"

The silhouetted man held up the palm of his right hand in front of himself, clenching and unclenching it. "I'm simply too powerful," he answered. "I'm already made out of energy as a whole; the conversion obviously isn't a problem," the figure shook his head and repeated himself with confidence, "_isn't_ a problem." He clenched his hand in a fist tightly, his gaze seemingly looking forward into nothingness. "But it's impossible, _it's impossible_ to instantly transport an infinite amount of power! I have to send fractions of myself at a time, _mere fractions of myself_ to get out there and fetch him for me!" The silhouette stomped on the blackness that was the ground, shouting, "But they're not fast enough to get him,_ not fast enough to get him!_ Unreliable homunculi, that's all they are,_ that's all they are!_"

Ghirahim's eerie smile widened. This situation specifically would help him with his plan. "You're right," he agreed calmly, walking over to the figure. "They're simply unreliable scum. You can't trust them, as they can't be trusted. They're simply small extensions of yourself to do your bidding." He stepped behind the silhouetted man, and said in a creepily quiet voice, "If you were to be able to find using them, and give them some means of sense, then everything would be set into perfection, isn't that right?"

The figure slowly nodded, pondering Ghirahim's 'words of wisdom.' He turned to face the Demon Lord. "Yes, yes, if they had intelligence behind their power, if they had leadership, then perhaps they would be able to capture Varren for good, and bring him to me." He chuckled slightly in a hint of mad laughter, getting excited by the mere idea of Varren's capture. He stomped on the ground again in confidence, putting his fist on his chest as he repeated, "_To me!_ And you, you will lead them, yes, yes?"

The Demon Lord chuckled, almost pitying the foolishness of this man. Nodding slowly, he said, "Mhm, that's right. I'll lead them to success. Varren will be yours in a matter of days at the most." He put the palm of his hand over his chest and bowed slightly, smiling at the figure with a look that could kill a baby. "However, before I serve you, I simply have two requests."

The figure sighed impatiently, but nodded. It was quite obvious that he wasn't intimidated by Ghirahim's gaze. In fact, he took it rather typically. This thing truly was mad. "Yes, yes, what is it?" he asked, a hint of annoyance in his tone.

Ghirahim held his disturbing gaze. "First, I ask that you give me the power that I'll need in order to get to Varren in the first place."

The figure shouted with exasperation, "What!" He stomped on the ground in outrage. "I'm not going to give you my power, thief! Don't forget why and how you were put in here!"

The Demon Lord tilted his head to the side slightly. "Oh," he said, "so does that mean that you expect me to be able to get there as fast as you would like me to and lead beings made of completely foreign energy on my own? You_ do_ know that it's impossible for me to do this?"

The figure sighed, the rage he'd felt moments ago leaving him, just as his previous anger had done. "I have mixed feelings, _mixed_ feelings about you. Very well, I understand your reasoning. I can see it's fair, I _can_ see. What is your second request from me?"

Ghirahim waved his finger at him. "Ah-ah-ah," he said with a twisted playfulness. "Don't get too carried away. First give me the energy, and then I'll tell you my next demand. Afterwards, I'll gladly be on my way."

The silhouetted man sighed again, this time out of annoyance, rather than as a way to simply calm himself down. "Fine, fine, I'll give you the energy that you desire. I'll try not to get carried away in delivering, I'll try not to."

Ghirahim watched as the being stepped backwards. He held out his hands in front of him, and began to concentrate. The Demon Lord simply stood there, waiting patiently for the feel of energy to come flowing into his body. Slowly, dark-blue energy began to flow off of the figure's hands, and stream into Ghirahim's chest; he smiled widely as he felt the power gently intertwine itself with his energy stream. The figure glared, shaking his head. "No, it's not enough for you to do anything, simply_ not enough!_" Under the influence of his impatient mind and the frustration caused by lack of progress, the silhouetted man let his energy explode out of his hands, slamming itself into Ghirahim's energy stream in a rapid, continuous explosion of power. He expected Ghirahim to be completely blown away by his might, but the Demon Lord only flinched for a moment in alarm, and then resumed to smile creepily. The being smiled as well, happy to see that he had an adversary with an amount of power that was able to tolerate his own, even in these amounts of release.

The silhouetted man put his hands down, letting Ghirahim take in the energy that he had given to him. "You should be honored, you should be honored, to have the strength you do in order to manage your own against mine." Excited, the figure struggled to contain mad laughter as he added, "You should also count yourself lucky that I would even have the willingness to give you my own to begin with, after what you've done in the past."

The Demon Lord chuckled, putting his hand on his chest as he bowed as a sign of loyalty once more. "Yes, that I should…" He cut his eyes at the figure. "Now, as for my second favor… tell me your name," he gently requested, the kindness of his voice combining perfectly with the horrifying smile that spread across his face.

The figure tilted his head to the side. "You haven't heard of me before?" he asked, utterly confused. Then he looked down at his body, and said to himself, "On the other hand though, it might be hard to know who I am, now that I think about it." He looked back up at Ghirahim, folding his arms together. "My name is Darmaque! I am future ruler of the universe, king of everything, leader of all!"

Ghirahim nodded, and submissively added, "You are also my leader, Lord Darmaque." He stopped bowing, but held his grin as he said to his new leader, "Well, Darmaque, I would be very grateful to you if you could take me to Varren's whereabouts so that I might be able to fulfill your wishes. After all, I know how badly you wish to hold him under your possession…"

Darmaque nodded, holding his hand up to Ghirahim's chest. "After I do this a single time, you will instantly be transported to the planet Varren is on, instantly, _instantly!_ After you arrive, it's up to you to find him. But don't worry," he reassured, "don't worry, you'll be able to find him perfectly easily, _perfectly_ easily. You'll feel the attachment from that close of a distance of him, and then, _then_ you'll find him if you follow the feeling. When you do find him, you'll be accompanied by my minions, alright, _alright?_ He already thinks that he's defeated one, but it's already on the planet with him. The other one hasn't fought at all; it's perfectly fine. They're both very strong, _very_ _strong_! Now, off with you!"

The Demon Lord nodded, grinning once again at how mentally unstable his leader seemed to be. "Thank you for the backup, Lord Darmaque…" With that, he was teleported by the silhouetted figure to an unknown destination.

**With Varren…**

The CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN sat calmly in a bright, sunny forest. Birds were chirping, the wind was blowing against the trees gently—it seemed as if it was a rather decent place. Varren slowly opened up his eyes, awaking from his short nap. He stretched in his chair that he'd slept in, and rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Alright," he said with a yawn, "where are we this time?"

A light-blue, see through projection of the familiar woman wearing the sleeveless uniform appeared in front of him. "Answer: We are on a planet that is known as 'Dream Land.' While it's true that an evil tyrant named Nightmare had once plagued this terrain with monsters in an attempt to start somewhere for his ultimate goal of universal domination, he was slain by the hero of this land, an alien named Kirby. After Kirby had harnessed the power of the Star Rod, the only thing that could truly damage Nightmare, he spat a barrage of cascading stars at this foe. This was enough to defeat the tyrant, and since this defeat, he has never been seen again; now the world lives in peace."

Varren smiled, clapping his hands together. "My, it seems as if we've got ourselves a good planet!" He chuckled as he stood up from his seat. "Deactivate the barriers for me so I can go outside, alright?"

The projection nodded. "Yes, master Varren," it said as it blinked away.

The sound similar to something a computer would make after powering down could be heard in the background; Varren knew that he could explore. The gentleman walked out of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN to meet a peaceful forest around him. He smiled at how calm things seemed to be. "Ah, it's nice to see that something can have an adventurous past, and yet such a simple present," he said to himself.

He walked into the woodland area, observing the trees around him as he passed them by. At least they didn't have eyes, like that one world he was in—the one with that plumber named Mario and such. He shuddered at the remembrance of all of the trees simply staring at him. Not just the trees though, but the mountains, the clouds, even some of the rocks! It wasn't that hard to make him feel insecure in that world…

He shook his head, trying to get his mind off of that subject. He didn't want to hold on to the memory for much longer.

Thankfully, the effort wasn't as hard as one might have assumed it would be. The sound of a gentle stream, he noticed, was off in the distance. The gentleman smiled as the peaceful sound relaxed him. He continued to walk towards the water. He often enjoyed the peace and quiet of everything, as well as a good adventure.

When he'd arrived at the trickling water, he saw that there was a foot deep, instant decline in the ground, where the water had been filled. In the center of this small, watery area, there was a quaintly sized rock. Strangely enough, there was a pink creature sleeping on this rock. All the more reasoning as to how and why the rock was sized nicely.

Varren stared at the pink figure with curiosity while it slept. "Well, what are you?" he mumbled to himself.

The thing had heard him somehow, as quiet as his mumbling may have been. It stirred, and appeared to sit up. Its feet were strange. They looked exactly like red slippers, but he knew that this creature wasn't _wearing_ any. It didn't have any legitimate arms or legs, either. Just stubs for hands and its red, slipper-feet were all that it had, and a face too. Its eyes were low, and it blinked sleepily before looking around, wide awake in an instant. It had a confused gaze of its own, as if it didn't remember how it'd gotten where it was. Then its gaze fell upon Varren; it blinked again in confusion. "Auuh?" it voiced. The sound it made actually seemed a bit cute to our curious fellow.

Varren stared at the thing with equal confusion though, despite the cuteness of it all. Not really liking the idea of not knowing something, he walked over to the small body of water that the creature was in. Standing in front of the water, he shook his head, tossing aside his bewilderment. In place of a confused look, there was one of friendliness; the gentleman smiled at the being. He bent over, putting his hands on his knees so that way he could meet the pink creature at its own level of height. "Hello there, little guy. My name's Varren. I don't know if you can understand me or not, but either way, I thought that you could use some company. You seem pretty lonely by yourself on that rock."

The creature stared at Varren a bit longer, and blinked its eyes. It wasn't long before it began smiling as well. "Hi!" it exclaimed.

Varren chuckled. "You're a cute one, aren't you?" He reached forward to pat its head. Strangely, it felt rubbery, and even stranger, it seemed to squish down to side each time he'd patted it, similarly to a hollow, rubber ball. The gentleman tilted his head to the side in amusement. He simply couldn't get over how weird this thing was. "Cute and a bit peculiar, I might add. Since you can understand me, could you tell me what your name is?"

"Kirby!" it answered enthusiastically.

Varren laughed, shaking his head. He stood up straight and placed his hands on his hips. "So you're the legendary hero who saved Dream Land? You're the one who defeated Nightmare, and ceased all monsters' existences? Who would have thought that such a powerful being could be in the form of such an adorable little puffball?" The gentleman chuckled from the irony of it all, but tried to calm himself down.

"Kirby, Kirby-Kirby-Kirby-Kirby!" the hero exclaimed as it danced around out of some sort of joy.

Varren tilted his head to the side, now sufficiently calmed. "My, so you're limited to speech then, are you?" He let out a hum in thought as he looked up into the sky. "And yet you're the one who's saved this planet out of the goodness of your heart. I suppose that it goes to show that you don't have to be smart, in order to be a good person. You can be smart and a bad person as well, so what's wrong with not being smart and being a good person in the same time? I don't see anything wrong with it, but—" he began to pace back and forth; at this point he was simply talking to himself, "—this doesn't simply mean that you don't have to be smart to be a good person, this also means that anything has potential to have some kind of positivity in their heart. Even someone such as that Demon Lord, Ghirahim…" Varren stopped his pacing. "This all came from some creature simply being limited with speech…" The gentleman chuckled, turning back to Kirby again. "I'm amazing, aren't I?"

The pink hero was simply staring at Varren when he'd looked back at it. "Auuhhh…" It simply stared at Varren in confusion.

He chuckled, shaking his head again. "Ah, never mind it." He walked off again, moving passed the body of water that Kirby was in. "If we meet again, I will be thankful!"

Kirby watched Varren as he left, staring at him with that same confused look in its eyes. Despite this look, though, it jumped from the rock as if it were completely weightless—literally weightless—and it gently floated down to the ground, next to Varren. It began to follow him as he walked onward.

Varren smiled, but didn't bother to stop, or even to turn his gaze at his newfound companion. He simply said, "I actually saw this coming, if you can believe it."

The two heroes walked onwards. It wasn't long before Varren remembered why he was on this planet to begin. He'd been having such a fun time with discovering Kirby and all that he'd forgotten that he was supposed to be looking for his energy again, so he figured that he might as well try to feel for it. As he continued forth towards the unknown destination, Varren strained to sense the attraction that he would feel when the energy was present. He concentrated hard, devoting his entire mind to this. It didn't take long before he felt something. There was a very powerful mass of his energy up ahead; Varren tilted his head to the side slightly. Never before had he felt such a powerful presence of his power. But that wasn't the only strange thing about this. The energy he sensed was mostly what he was used to dealing with, but there was another familiar energy tainted within it—a dark aura which he had been looking for in the past.

Varren glared. It was Ghirahim, he was up ahead. He immediately stopped in his tracks, and looked at the pink alien seriously. "Kirby, while it's true that I appreciated your company only moments ago, I would now like it if you were to leave me." He turned his gaze up ahead to the direction in which he'd sensed the missing fractions of himself. "There's a powerful foe up ahead, and I have a feeling as if he has a large portion of my energy in his possession. This would only add to the power he has…" He looked back to Kirby. "Please, leave while you still have the chance."

The pink creature summoned a wooden hammer from thin air, and held it over its shoulder (it didn't really have a shoulder, so technically it was at the stub of its arm, but it would make things much easier to describe if it were simply a shoulder). "Yah!" it exclaimed, a defiant look on its face.

Varren could easily tell by Kirby's expression that the creature wanted to come along with him. The gentleman sighed, knowing that he couldn't possibly say no to someone with that look in those eyes. Kirby wanted to help no matter what the cost may be, he saw, but more specifically, the pink hero simply wanted to defend his homeland. How on earth could he reject Kirby now? Varren nodded. "I understand." He looked ahead again. "Let's go, defender of Dream Land!"

The gentleman broke into a sprint, and Kirby followed right behind him.

**Elsewhere…**

There was a small, round figure, his face covered by a metallic mask. He wore a dark-purple cape with golden trimmings on the sides, and wore a pair of metal shoes. The masked creature stood behind the wheel of a large ship.

As this figure gazed down at the world from the windshield of his ship, he saw three figures, all standing still, doing absolutely nothing. He was too far away to tell exactly who they were, or what they looked like, but even so, he could already tell that he'd never encountered them before. Along with that, he knew that they didn't belong here. They were threats. He could feel a bitter intent radiating off of their area.

But no, now was not the time to act. It was far too soon. He could feel how powerful they were; it was obvious to him that, if he were to take them all at once, it would be certain that he would meet his end to the hands of these dangerous newcomers. Flying past them, he aimed to land his ship at the end of the forest. He would keep his senses alert in an attempt to track down their location later on.

Still, there was a likely possibility that was always there. There was always the chance that his rival would attempt to protect Dream Land from these foes, and attack them all on his own. The masked creature looked down, pausing to consider how tragic it would be if his rival were to meet his death trying to defend his home. It was a glum thought… but judging by how powerful these aliens seemed to be, there was no mistaking the likelihood of it all.

He continued out into the forest anyway. He wouldn't take the risk of challenging them and hoping that Kirby would be there in the same time he was. Landing his ship at last, he said to himself, "Kirby… Go with caution." Then he simply sat down and waited for the feeling of Kirby's aura and the auras of these dangerous foes to collide with each other. Only then would he make his way to aid him in an attempt to drive them away.

**With Varren…**

The gentleman and Kirby were walking forward, ready to bravely confront the Demon Lord. Judging by how much energy that Ghirahim had with him, Varren realized that there was a dangerously high risk that he might not get out of this scuffle in one piece. However, he'd learned from his previous battle that he'd gotten stronger as a whole; he knew not to underestimate himself. Not only that, but he had a hero by his side to help him fight. But would it be enough?

Now was Varren's chance to find out. He saw three figures, oddly enough, all standing directly in front of them. One of them he recognized, it was that being that he'd stabbed through the back of its head back in Chad's world! How on earth did it get here? Along with this, returned foe, there was a robot, painted in black, with a bright, red light glowing in its center. Ghirahim stood between these two with a highly disturbing smile on his face.

Varren shuddered at Ghirahim's creepiness, but was also completely baffled by the amount of power that he seemed to have. And these two… they also seemed to have the exact same power! They had his energy residing within them as well! But it didn't make sense though. The creature from the previous planet didn't have his energy back then, or at least Varren hadn't sensed it. But that seemed to be impossible. It _was_ impossible, wasn't it? Varren had always sensed when someone or something had had his energy… So why wasn't he able to sense it that time? Unable to solve this puzzle, Varren simply stared at the three of them in bewilderment, troubling himself with his own thoughts.

The Demon Lord laughed, and took a step forward, staring at Varren intently. "Well, Varren, it certainly has been a long time, don't you think?" He held out his arms, gesturing to his two partners. "What do you think of my new little group?" He chuckled a bit with a confident grin on his face.

The sight of seeing him so proud of himself was simply sickening to Varren. "It's a very confusing setup that you've got there, as there's really no rhyme or reasoning as to what or who resides within your group." Varren glared at him. "I'm also confused as to how the devil you managed to get here. You couldn't have teleported. Not even with your amount of power combined with your teleportation skills, you wouldn't have made it to an entirely different planet! How did you do it?"

Ghirahim put his hands back down to his sides, walking to Varren casually. He summoned his sword and gripped tightly onto its handle. "You should know by now that I'm not one to tell my secrets…" He pointed the tip of his blade at Kirby, who was standing next to him. "About my group, you can't complain about mine not making sense when your only teammate is a pink ball of goo." The Demon Lord laughed slightly, shaking his head. "Have you no pride, Varren?"

"Yes," Varren retorted, "as a matter of fact, I do. It's my pride that led me to have him tag along in the first place. He's a brave hero of this land, and he's saved it many a time."

Ghirahim smirked at Varren's response. "So you think that having a hero by your side can help you now? Even if you have such a powerful warrior by your side at this point, it won't make a difference. All you are is an empty shell…"

Varren glared at him again, this time loathingly. "You know for a fact that I'm most certainly not an empty shell. I'm much more than you believe I am, Demon Lord. Don't underestimate me."

Ghirahim chuckled as he held his blade horizontally. "Well then—" he vanished in an instant, and then reappeared in front of Varren, hand on his shoulder, blade's point directed at the gentleman's forehead. Kirby cried out in alarm as he stumbled back a bit, glaring at the Demon Lord. "—prove to me that you're more than a hollow sarcophagus," he whispered, "and then maybe I'll find your existence as something slightly better than insignificant."


	9. Epic Showdown: Pt 1

Varren glared at the Demon Lord, unaffected by the blade pointed at his forehead. "Very well," he said, "I shall accept your challenge, but I cannot assure you that you won't regret engaging me in combat."

Ghirahim chuckled at Varren's response. "Well then, how will you respond to _this_!" He sliced his blade to the side of the gentleman's neck.

Varren unsheathed his own sword with his one useful arm and turned to block the attack. Just after the collision of the two blades, Ghirahim vanished once again, and then reappeared to Varren's left. The Demon Lord lunged at Varren; the tip of his blade pointed at his chest. But then Kirby intervened.

Kirby swung his hammer to Ghirahim's side, only to have a blast of lightning smash into his left. The pink hero tumbled across the ground, bouncing against it like a rubber ball. The creature with the two antenna-shells tilted its head to the side as the area between the appendages on its head pulsed with the excess energy of lightning. With remarkable speed, it zoomed off after Kirby again. Kirby spun himself around in midair and inflated himself to slow down the rate at which he was moving. The pitch-black creature had made it in front of Kirby, but before it could do anything to him, Kirby slammed his hammer directly into the thing's face, which put it at an immediate halt. The creature stumbled backwards, struggling in regaining its footing.

In the background, sparks flew. Time had already slowed down for the chivalrous fighter just as it had when he was fighting the creature that Kirby now fought. Yet still, even with the enhanced vision, Ghirahim was moving just as quickly as he was since the last time Varren had fought him. Varren knew how this was. It was because the Demon Lord had managed to steal more of his energy from him._ How could he have managed to get his hands on another portion of my energy before I got to it?_ he asked himself.

Another lunge; Varren quickly took a step back to just barely dodge the tip of the blade. But Ghirahim kept moving forward, taking Varren by surprise. He wasn't willing to simply let himself get killed so easily. The gentleman quickly took another step backwards, and then dodged to the side of Ghirahim's blade. He lunged forward to stab at the Demon Lord's own chest in an attempt to return the favor.

With a jolt of movement from the arm, Varren found that Ghirahim was holding the tip of his blade in between his fingers. It had happened in an instant; Varren was amazed by Ghirahim's newfound speed. Even when things were so slowed down for him, he still didn't manage to see it? _Where did he get this power?_ thought the gentleman.

Ghirahim simply smiled at Varren creepily. The eerie look in his eyes was sharper than his blade. "Silly Varren," the Demon Lord taunted. "You, an empty shell, have yet to prove to me that I have any reason at all for holding some respect to your life. Silly, silly Varren," Ghirahim chuckled playfully as he put pressure on the blade he held in between his fingers.

In an instant, time went from being slowed to completely put at a halt. Varren could feel energy Ghirahim was putting into squeezing his blade. What should he do? He couldn't yank it out of Ghirahim's hand, because he knew that it would simply break anyways. Unless, of course, he somehow managed to slip it harmlessly out from in between his fingers. But the amount of force Ghirahim was putting forth into holding it (which physically was quite the lot) combined with the amount of pressure he was about to put into the blade told him that that wouldn't work either. But he hadn't squeezed his sword that tightly yet; there might still be time to save it. Should he take the chance? He had to at this point. Varren carefully analyzed Ghirahim's fingers, and then cleanly slipped his blade out from in between them._ Ah! It worked!_

In an instant, time had resumed itself once more; Ghirahim's fingers clenched at nothing. He tilted his head to the side with the look of a disappointed child. "You actually managed to avoid having your blade shattered… You've done better than I thought you would…" In an instant, his mood changed. He stroked the hair that was covering his eye gently, a demonic smile in place of his displeased look. "But either way, you've still lost."

Varren didn't have any time to wonder what on earth Ghirahim was talking about. In an instant, two metallic claws slammed against his shoulders. He cried out in agony. The mere impact from the claws alone was enough to easily shatter the bones in his upper arm area. The robotic nightmare stood behind Varren, its red light in its center glowing demonically. As if he wasn't in enough pain, the robot lifted Varren up by his shattered shoulders, and squeezed tightly. Varren's voice cracked, and his scream became slightly animalistic.

He couldn't do anything! If he were to kick in defiance, it would simply hurt his shoulders even more, or increase the chances of his arms falling off altogether! He couldn't focus his energy to fight back either! He was simply hopeless to dangle in the torturous machine's grasp. It was as if the gentleman's valor was being squeezed out of him like lemon juice.

Ghirahim chuckled in delight as he witnessed his rival in such agony, his eyes glimmering with a devilish amusement. "It must feel—" he paused, letting out a playful hum in thought, "—disappointing. Doesn't it, Varren?" The Demon Lord smiled villainously at Varren as he started to walk towards him at a very slow rate, sword at his side. "After all that effort you put into coming this far, after all that you've tried to do to defeat Darmaque, you end up like this: Being crushed by a robot—" he placed his hand on the helpless gentleman's shoulder, "—and then being stabbed to death by me…" Ghirahim leaned in closer to Varren. He whispered quietly into his ear, "Goodbye, you empty shell…"

The Demon Lord drew his sword back.

A moment later, there was a slash of light which cut into the top of the robot's head. Ghirahim stared at the machine as its upper body fell from its shoulders, claws releasing Varren to let him drop to the ground. The Demon Lord heard the sound of something cutting through the air; he turned to his left to block a spiky, golden bladed sword. The wielder of this weapon was puzzling to Ghirahim, but it wasn't stranger than anything in his armada. It was a masked, round figure that appeared to have wings. There was no more time to examine. Rapid slices came from the new warrior in a matter of moments. Ghirahim casually blocked all of them, the surprise completely gone by this point.

In an instant, the masked knight's wings vanished, a cape in their place. He swung his cape over himself, disappearing just like his wings. Ghirahim spun around, blocking yet another attack from the yellow, spikey sword. Yet another outbreak of slices; just the same yet another combination of parries were given as the outcome.

The newcomer revealed his wings once more, then flapped them hard to throw himself backwards, keeping his distance from Ghirahim. Quickly, he looked at Kirby's direction.

The pink hero was above the creature with the antenna-shells, then did a front flip, hammer at the ready. He slammed his wooden weapon down, bashing it across the thing's head, then twisted horizontally in midair to whack the creature aside a few meters.

The masked warrior turned back to face Ghirahim. He pointed the tip of his blade at the villain. "Come," he said, his voice deep and serious.

The Demon Lord continued to stare at the newcomer. In his gaze, there was an undeterminable emotion. "Who dares to interrupt my fight? Who dares to slay myminion?" The emotion in his eyes began to reveal its identity when he glared coldly at the newcomer, clenching tightly at his sword. It was one of outrage.

Calmly answering this enraged question, the warrior said, "I am Meta Knight, the greatest warrior in the galaxy!"

Varren struggled as he looked at the robot's severed head and broken body. He tried to push himself off the ground so he could sit up straight, but his shoulders made a quick, strong protest. The wounded gentleman grunted in pain, letting himself lie down on the ground, helpless. _An empty shell,_ he thought. _That cad called me an empty shell._ He clenched at the dirt, his brown eyes glimmering with defiance. _Once I heal, may he quiver in his boots!_

As his valor had returned to him, so did his familiar power. He could feel a small stirring in the center of his very being, growing larger. The robotic remnants began to glow dark-blue, and dissipated all at once, turning into simple sparkles in the air. They spun around Varren, synchronizing with the feeling inside of him.

Ghirahim's eyes remained widened, shifting his attention to Varren. _The energy is attracted to him! That's right! How could I have forgotten?_

Then the sparkles slowly laid themselves on top of the gentleman, seemingly easing their way inside his skin. Varren's wounds had healed in an instant, his power seeming to have increased by twice as much. The gentlemanly warrior stood up, unsheathing his sword once more. "Alright," he said, glaring at Ghirahim. "Now it's time for round two!"

Meta Knight turned back to gaze at Varren upon hearing his voice. He stared at him momentarily with a slightly puzzled look, then turned his attention back to the Demon Lord. He pointed his golden sword at Ghirahim. Meta Knight had already assured himself that he would be able to defeat the villain on his own, but with the help of this friendly warrior on his side, victory was unquestionable.

The Demon Lord stared at Varren for a moment longer, just as Meta Knight had done. Neither of his opponents knew what was going on his mind. The look in his gaze had shifted from anger to surprise. But then Ghirahim's alarm faded away. He calmed down, a confident aura emanating from him. He smirked eerily as he uttered a quiet chuckle. "Doesn't this seem familiar, Varren?" He stroked the hair covering his eye. "You fighting against me with the help of someone from a foreign planet—it almost seems poetic that this sort of thing happened again. However, I can assure you this much: it won't happen a third time."

Uncaring of the conversation, Meta Knight quickly resumed his assault against Demon Lord Ghirahim. He held his blade, and spun around rapidly like a drill. However, Ghirahim quickly moved slightly to the side, letting the blade just barely miss him. He grabbed Meta Knight's round body from behind, and then threw him down on the ground.

Varren ran towards Ghirahim, much quicker than he was before. Still though, the Demon Lord seemed to have seen it coming. He stomped harshly on Meta Knight's back, then let his sword teleport away so he could Varren by his shoulders and throw him behind. A kick was slammed into the gentleman's stomach before he could land.

Varren stumbled back a few feet. He landed on the ground, putting the palm of his hand on it as to regain his balance. The gentlemanly warrior stood up, and charged at Ghirahim once more. The Demon Lord smirked at Varren's attempt to begin yet another assault. He took his foot off of Meta Knight, then kicked him viciously towards Varren.

Meta Knight revealed his wings and flexed them to put himself at a halt. The masked warrior discarded his wings, and whipped his cape over his body, disappearing.

Varren stabbed at Ghirahim, who jerked his head to the right, dodging the attack. Meta Knight reappeared at the direction in which Ghirahim had dodged, then spun his golden blade around rapidly in midair, taking on the form of a spiky tornado. But the Demon Lord was quicker than the spinning blade. In a split second, he grabbed hold of Meta Knight's sword, putting his flashy attack to an end.

The gentleman could easily guess what villain's strategy was from this point; he cut at the Demon Lord's neck in an attempt to stop him half way into his action. Ghirahim noticed Varren's movement from the corner of his eye; he let go of Meta Knight's sword and teleported behind Varren. Guessing that he'd done as much, Varren spun around, blade at the ready. Before he knew it, his sword was clashing against Ghirahim's. Varren could feel great force being inserted from Ghirahim in the clash, metal grinding against metal. The blades squeaked quietly as they protested against one another.

Varren stared at Ghirahim in dismay. He had no idea how the Demon Lord could have managed to be as strong as he was, even with the amount of energy that he'd consumed. Not to mention the fact that Varren had consumed another deal of energy as well._ I've obtained an equal amount of energy as he has, haven't I?_ he thought to himself, trying to understand the true amount of power behind his foe._ Since this is the case, we should be around where we were only moments ago: around equals. Unless he was merely toying with me... but this is impossible. I was improved back then, stronger and faster than ever—I'm even more improved now!_ The gentleman struggled to even participate in the clash with Ghirahim as he felt his feet slide across the ground. _How much power does this man possess?_

Ghirahim chuckled in a fiendish delight, enjoying the look of confusion on Varren's face. "I can tell what you're thinking, Varren—and let me tell you this: I've not shown you even half of what I can really do."

Suddenly, Meta Knight fell down from above Varren. Noticing this in an instant, the gentleman dashed behind the Demon Lord as to get out of his ally's way. Ghirahim smirked, holding his hand in midair. Meta Knight had assumed that the Demon Lord was going to grab his sword once again. He was mistaken. Red, crystal daggers formed in front of him, and then charged at the oncoming opponent. Meta Knight easily had the reflexes to spin and twirl out of the way, dodging them.

Varren slashed at Ghirahim from behind while he was busy occupying himself with Meta Knight, though it made no difference to the Demon Lord. It seemed as if he'd vanished to avoid being cut, then reappeared right where he'd gone away, only facing Varren. The villainous man snapped his fingers. Upon doing so, two large skeletons, both wearing armor, appeared to confront Meta Knight in Ghirahim's place. The masked warrior easily adjusted to his new opponent and slashed at its side, but the skeleton blocked the attack, and swung at him with its other sword. Meta Knight ducked underneath it, and lunged towards Ghirahim once again. However, his path was blocked by the other skeleton's sword; he quickly parried undead creature's blade. The skeleton pushed him; Meta Knight skid backwards slightly. He glanced around to see that he was in the middle of some kind of circle which was formed by two dead creatures. He braced himself, ready for the continuation of their attacks. It was obvious that he would have to defeat these two before he could resume his original offense on Ghirahim.

The Demon Lord glanced over his shoulder to look at Meta Knight. He smirked at the masked warrior's trapped situation, seeing how his simple plan had appeared to result just as he predicted. "Those Stalfos should keep our little friend occupied."

Varren was trying to recover from the shock of the discovery that Ghirahim had the ability to teleport, not only himself, but his minions as well. _And apparently,_ he thought,_ these ones are called 'Stalfos.' Such an eerie name, but I would expect no less from someone such as him._

Ghirahim's eyes trailed back to the gentleman as he began to grin at him. "So," he said nonchalantly, "I believe that I've given you the privilege of battling me for much longer than you deserve. I had fun with you, Varren, I really did, but, as they say, all good things must come to an end." The Demon Lord extended his hand at Varren, his palm facing the sky. A ball of light-blue fire slowly levitated above it, then amplified itself in power and heat.

Varren stared at the technique, something he had never seen before. It was pulsing with energy. "How on earth did you manage to create that?" he awed, his voice coated in shock.

"Oh, this?" Ghirahim chuckled demonically, looking at the light-blue fireball above his hand. "Well, it's a little thing I came up with. I combined my new energy with a technique that I'd already invented, and the fusion of the two created the beauty you see in front of you." The pale horror tilted his head to the side, pointing the palm of his hand at the gentleman.

Varren flinched as a response, ready to dodge at any moment. _How long is this man going to toy with me?_ he thought to himself.

"I believe I've just spared a few moments of your life by answering your insignificant question," Ghirahim observed, "and at the same time I've managed to waste an equal amount of my life. But I don't mind—" A playful smile spread across his face, his fingers gliding across his light-blue fire spell. "—because I know that it's all going to be over. So, Varren, to you I say—" the ball of energy in his hands began to shake around, screaming as if a pot were being boiled, "—bon voyage."

Releasing at last, a massive wall of blue fire exploded from the Demon Lord's hand. The gentleman spent few moments staring at the thing in awe, stunned by the size of it. The heat was unimaginable. He wasn't even touching it and it was already burning his eyebrows. It seemed to coat the sky, the ground, and everything in between. There was nothing but flames, as if this attack was the very entrance to Hell itself. The fires were gluttonous, taking in every bit of grass, oxygen, tree bark—it would be more than willing to consume flesh.

Varren snapped himself out of the intimidation. He had to find out a way to escape! He knew that he couldn't dodge it, it was too wide. He couldn't jump over it, because it was too tall. He simply had to retreat until it was worn out enough that it just completely died. Then he would be safe.

So he fled. Sprinting on the opposite direction, the gentleman simply ran. His heart was pounding with adrenaline, yet at the same time he felt so powerless. All he could do was run away; he was proving to be exactly what the Demon Lord had said he was going to be: A hollow shell. The power he had, though improved, was still no match compared to Ghirahim's. The first battle wasn't won. He'd just gotten lucky. The second battle—he was just being toyed with! And now it had led to this: Flames behind him, tearing down trees, consuming all in their wake, and what could he do? He could do nothing.

Suddenly, something completely unexpected happened. Varren heard a suction sound of some sort. The fires began to compact themselves, and flow towards a specific direction. The gentleman began to stop running, and looked towards where the fires were being sucked into. He raised his eyebrow in a thankful confusion when he saw the source of the suction: Kirby! He was somehow sucking in all of the fires. They swirled into his mouth, and then his color shifted from pink to red. A crown formed on his head, flames emanating from the top of it. The small hero turned to face Ghirahim, who was staring at him with outrage, and took in a deep breath, about to return all of the fire which he'd just consumed.

The creature with the two antenna-shells which the now-red hero was fighting suddenly appeared in front of him, arms spread wide. Kirby released the power of the fires the Demon Lord had shot out in the compact form of a simple fireball, the small form making it even more potent than the original. The color of the fires had gone from blue to the color of Kirby himself. The crimson red flames slammed against the strange figure, which somehow managed to hold its footing. Its hands began to melt; it screamed out in pain for the first time.

Varren stared at the sight of his former foe in such agony. _So it can feel pain after all, eh?_

The fireball plowed directly through the creature and zoomed straight towards Ghirahim. The Demon Lord waited until the blast was directly in front of his face, then simply teleported a few inches to the side of it, dodging it with relative ease. Behind him was a massive explosion from the force of his own blast, which had been redirected and amplified.

The effort made by the round hero was to no avail.

A small star appeared over Kirby's head, and his flaming crown vanished from its place. Along losing his glamour, he lost his power.

Varren stood next to Kirby, smiling at him. "You did well, fellow. Good attempt. I'm proud of you for making the effort, but—" he turned to look at the Demon Lord once again. "—it didn't even manage to touch him…"

Suddenly, Meta Knight appeared above Ghirahim, slicing at him with his golden sword. "Hah!"

The sickening man quickly summoned his beam-sword, blocking the attack with relative ease. He smirked at Meta Knight. "So you've defeated the Stalfos already, have you?"

"Your mere underlings aren't enough to hold me off for long. You underestimate me." Meta Knight slashed two more times at the Demon Lord, both of them parried. He swept his cape over his body, then vanished, reappearing in front of Ghirahim, rather than above him. Meta Knight slashed at the villain, but was blocked once more. The Demon Lord's response was a counterattack, slashing to the upper left. The masked warrior blocked the attack, putting his sword below him, and then used the power of Ghirahim's strike to help him move back slightly. He landed on the ground swiftly.

"Oh no, I didn't doubt your strength," Ghirahim replied with a chuckle, resuming the conversation with his opponent. "I knew that you would be able to defeat them. However, I wanted to hold you off for a while so I could spend some 'quality time' with my good friend here, Varren. But then I was O so rudely interrupted by this nuisance—a friend of yours I presume." He glared coldly at the pink hero.

"He is no friend of mine," the caped antihero replied. "He is my rival, sometimes he is my ally, but not once in my life has he been my friend."

To interrupt their conversation was a frail sigh, which emanated from the figure with the antenna-shells on his head. The figure was clenching at the massive hole in its chest, moaning gently. It fell on its knees and began fading away into dark-blue specks.

The Demon Lord's eyes widened. He knew what was going to happen next, as he'd already seen this process happen before. The energy began to flow over to Varren again. Ghirahim raised his hand, trying to control his energy with what practice he had over it and make it come to him instead, but to his misfortune, the 'determination' of the energy seemed to outmatch even his magical expertise.

The dark-blue specks plastered themselves onto Varren's skin. He began to glow this color momentarily, his eyes shifting from dirty brown to the color which coated him. Then it left, along with the dark-blue dust particles.

Newly empowered, Varren began to feel reassured in his chances of defeating the Demon Lord. He grinned, exchanging glances between his two companions: Meta Knight and Kirby. Then he faced Ghirahim himself. He pointed his sword at the villainous man. "We've defeated your comrades," he said, his voice loud and confident, "and now you're all that's left of your small, yet powerful squadron. Running away now would only place a shame on your title as 'Demon Lord' unlike any other. Confront us, and accept your impending defeat!"

Ghirahim stared at the freshly revived gentleman. _This has happened one too many times,_ he thought to himself. _Normally I would simply refuse their offer to fight. It would be boring anyways, even if he did gain more power. But if I were to do that, then Darmaque wouldn't exactly be thrilled with me coming back to him empty-handed. I have to stay on his good side. He's my only real chance that I'll achieve infinite power, after all. So…_ The Demon Lord sighed in annoyance, shaking his head. "I suppose it can't be helped," he admitted. "Very well, Varren, I'll fight the three of you. But remember what I tell you now, little toy: I'm done playing!"


	10. Epic Showdown: Final Part

For a moment, Varren stared at Ghirahim. Though his blade was pointed at the Demon Lord, though he glared at the villainous man with an expression of vigor, he was internally stunned, shocked once again by a familiarly dreadful idea. _So it's true,_ thought the gentleman. _Since the very beginning, he's simply been toying with me in combat. He's never once been serious with me, and, for some reason, he valued my life enough to not kill me off. But now he's going to get serious._ Varren gripped his sword's handle tightly. _I'm going to die here, but my death shall not be meaningless. He'll die with me!_

Varren charged towards the Demon Lord, blade at his side. To follow him was Meta Knight, then Kirby. Meta Knight revealed his wings and flew upwards, gliding down towards Ghirahim like a hawk about to devour a mouse. The pale-skinned monstrosity summoned a sword made from pure energy. Meta Knight cut at Ghirahim upon reaching him, but the Demon Lord simply ducked underneath the attack. He quickly shoved his beam sword upward, slashing off one of Meta Knight's wings. As the masked warrior fell to the ground, Ghirahim teleported behind Meta Knight to cut at his one remaining wing. However, Meta Knight quickly used what he had to spin around in midair, parrying the attack. He spun around in a tornado-like manner, attempting to catch the Demon Lord off guard. But once again, Ghirahim simply grabbed hold of Meta Knight's blade. The masked warrior struggled to retrieve it once again, but it was to no avail. It was quickly snatched from him. The power Ghirahim had used to take it was enough to stun him.

Suddenly, the Demon Lord heard footsteps coming from behind; he kicked the stunned Meta Knight down, and used him to help turn the other direction. Varren was in front of him. He slashed at the Demon Lord, who simply parried, using his newly-acquired sword. Ghirahim smirked at Varren confidently and lunged forwards, stabbing at the gentleman's stomach. Varren noticed this, and took a step back.

After this had happened, Kirby then rushed forward to take his turn against Ghirahim. He summoned his hammer, jumped in the air to meet the Demon Lord's face-level of height, then spun around horizontally, in an attempt to smash Ghirahim in the face. Once again, Ghirahim parried, blocking with the Galaxia blade (Meta Knight's sword). Quickly, he let his beam-sword teleport elsewhere in the battlefield as to have one free hand, which he used to grab onto Kirby's face, effectively ending the clash of blade versus hammer.

Ghirahim spun around to build up friction and tossed Kirby in Meta Knight's direction, then threw the Galaxia blade at the both of them. Meta Knight regained his footing, then dodged Kirby, who was still tumbling across the ground. He caught his blade's handle and charged towards the Demon Lord.

Varren lunged forwards as well, slashing at Ghirahim's back, but to his surprise, the beam-sword that was thrown by the Demon Lord only moments ago had reappeared in time to block the attack. Ghirahim spun around once more, facing the gentleman. He grabbed hold of the levitating, energetic blade, and quickly overpowered Varren, pushing him back. Even with his new strength, the sheer force Ghirahim had used to simply win a small clash was overwhelming. But Varren didn't lose his footing by much; he was able to quickly make a counter attack, slicing at the villain's throat.

Typically, Ghirahim parried. But he heard footsteps coming from behind him once again. Quickly, he turned to face the one who opposed him, Meta Knight. A flurry of slices from the masked warrior; a series of parries from the Demon Lord, sparks flying upon each time the two blades made contact.

Varren quickly made the attempt to slash at Ghirahim's back while he was obviously occupied with his ally, but somehow the attack was foreseen. Dodging both Meta Knight's strike and Varren's, the Demon Lord ducked underneath the attacks, letting the two friends' blades collide with each other. Red, diamond-like knives appeared around Ghirahim, who pushed both of his hands in opposite directions. The diamonds were sent zooming off, evenly distributing themselves; three in Varren's direction, and three in Meta Knight's. With cat-like reflexes, Varren moved backwards, to give him just the slightest hint of more time to jump over the attack, the energetic knife just barely missing him. Landing on the ground, he then ducked, the second attack grazing the top of his fedora. The third one was the one which made impact, stabbing into the gentleman's stomach. He cringed, his dark-brown suit now stained with red.

Meta Knight, on the other hand, jumped backwards and blocked them with his golden-bladed sword, slicing them all in two, effectively allowing them to dissipate into nothingness.

The gentleman couldn't help but feel envious, but, given the circumstances, he couldn't afford to feel any negative emotions towards his comrades. This was a battle he might not come back from.

Ghirahim couldn't help but chuckle momentarily at the fact that Varren had been stricken by one of his long-ranged assaults. Quickly though, his playful delight was replaced with a deadly intent. He rushed towards Meta Knight, letting his energetic sword teleport above them, where it remained levitating in midair. The Demon Lord's right, gloved arm shone with Varren's familiar dark-blue energy as he held it high into the air. Just as Ghirahim was about to reach Meta Knight, slammed his arm down again, a dark-blue, energetic cut forming in its wake, progressing at Ghirahim's speed.

There was no time for Meta Knight to dodge; he held the Galaxia sword in the way, blocking the attack. For what seemed to be an eternity, the masked warrior was struggling to hold his footing, the amount of power behind this blast constantly plowing against his blade. But Meta Knight was stronger than the attack; with a mighty slash and a grunt of effort, he cut passed the attack. Strangely enough though, it did not vanquish the technique, rather it sent it hurling in the opposite direction, which would be directly at Ghirahim.

The Demon Lord hadn't seen the redirection as a possibility. He thought that Meta Knight would be one of the weakest out of the three opponents, but it seemed as if it was quite the other way around. The dark-blue slash of energy slammed against Ghirahim's left shoulder, then was released in a short burst of power, seeming to singe the entirety of the Demon Lord's left body as he stumbled backwards. "Eugh!" He grabbed onto his shoulder.

While his opponent was stunned, Varren quickly came from behind. He sliced his sword across Ghirahim's neck in an attempt to decapitate the Demon Lord, however, all the gentleman heard was a small cutting sound as the villain was knocked slightly to the side, stumbling once again.

Meta Knight ran towards Ghirahim, then jumped in the air slightly. He did a cartwheel, his sword still at the ready, placing several small cuts onto the Demon Lord's skin. When he landed, he quickly jumped up again to give three quick slashes across Ghirahim's chest.

Before Meta Knight could continue his own conversation, it was Kirby who arose once more to take action. He came from above the Demon Lord, his hammer summoned over his head. "Ki-yah!" A mighty blow with the hammer smashed atop of Ghirahim's skull, jerking his head down. Before landing on the ground, the pink hero slammed his wooden hammer into the Demon Lord's side, knocking him sideways.

Ghirahim could easily tell that they were fighting back, and doing so quite well; he quickly teleported backwards as to attempt to get out of harm's way momentarily. All three of his opponents observed where he'd gone when he vanished, especially Varren. Ghirahim stared at the gentleman. Then his gaze shifted over to Kirby, and afterwards to Meta Knight.

A confident smirk escaped from Ghirahim's lips. He chuckled. "Well, you three aren't as easy to kill as I thought you'd be. It might take more than my weakest form to end the three of you after all!" He opened his arms wide, his grin growing into a sadistic smile. "I know that I said that I would get serious at the beginning of this battle, but I couldn't have brought myself to my true elegance while fighting creatures as piteous as you mortals."

Another excited laugh. "Let me show you what I can _really_ do! Behold!" His cape began to dissolve into small, diamond-shaped particles, revealing his pure white clothing. He held up his arms, the gloves on them vanishing instantaneously. His arms were pitch black, unlike the rest of his pale skin. Black marks branched across the right half of his body. "Aren't they marvelous?" he asked the three of them, admiring the glamour in his new 'transformation.' "You'll find that my arms are more durable than any blade ever crafted, while stronger than any armor ever smelted." He placed the back of his hand on his forehead as he looked up at the sky. "Such grace—" he let his other hand trail across the marks on the right half of his body, "—such beauty—" he cocked his neck to the left to toss his hair out of his right eye, "—such overall perfection!" He spread his arms out once more, grinning at them with a demented joy. "Truly, this transformation of mine is a majestic sight to behold! Unfortunately for you, this will be the first and _last_ time you will ever see me like this. But you needn't worry about being unfair; I'll honor your deaths. I'll tend to this forest by sating it with your blood!"

Instantaneously, Ghirahim teleported in front of Varren. The gentleman was shocked for a split second. A split second was all Ghirahim needed. The Demon Lord clenched Varren's throat tightly in his hand, then summoned his beam-sword.

Time slowed down for Varren. He could see that Ghirahim was about to stab his newly created weapon into his chest by the way his hand was lunging forward. He was going to die if he didn't do something. Whatever it was he was going to do, he needed to do it quickly. Memories of this battle flashed before his eyes. Ghirahim had used energetic techniques before. Perhaps he could do the same? But how could he possibly execute a technique that he didn't understand? He would have to take a stab at it and try for himself. Grabbing at his own blade, Varren pictured his energetic stream inside of him, dark-blue energy coursing inside his body. He let the energy flow off of his hand, into the sword in his mind. Responsively, his sword began to glow with dark-blue energy. It'd worked! But there was no time to applaud himself. Quickly, the gentleman knocked Ghirahim's blade to the side with his own, then sliced at the pale villain to the side upon knocking his arm across.

The blade slammed against the Demon Lord's arm, but it didn't faze him. It didn't even penetrate his skin, regardless of it being empowered with energy. Releasing the gentleman from his grip, Ghirahim let his beam-sword dissipate in his hand so he could whack Varren's shoulder.

The impact was powerful; now Varren was sent stumbling sideways. Meta Knight came from the side of where Varren originally stood, cutting at Ghirahim once again. The Demon Lord grabbed hold of the Galaxia blade, slowly attempting to steal it right from Meta Knight's hands. Familiarly, he struggled to keep it in his grasp.

Ghirahim grinned playfully at the masked alien. "Deja vous."

Meta Knight scowled at the Demon Lord. "Your arrogance will be your undoing, you despicable rodent."

Ghirahim laughed at this remark. "There is nothing powerful enough to conquer me, I'm afraid. Not even Darmaque himself."

Varren's eyes widened. _So he's in league with Darmaque?_ he thought in shock. _But how could he have met him to begin with? This makes no sense!_ With a powerful confusion, and an even stronger desire for answers, Varren sprinted towards the Demon Lord. "Ghirahim!"

Ghirahim glanced to the side upon hearing his name. "Hmm?"

Learning from what he'd done only moments ago, he let his blade glow with dark-blue energy. Before he got to the villain, Varren slashed his sword at the air, attempting a new technique. The result was an energetic attack similar to the one the Demon Lord himself had executed; a dark-blue slash was sent in the air. However, unlike Ghirahim's, it was quick.

The Demon Lord smirked at such a feebly weak attack. Two red, energetic diamonds formed over his head, then began to orbit him in a constant flow. The first one smacked into Meta Knight, tossing him to the side. The second one took the brunt of Varren's blow to shield its creator. The energetic slash vanished in a small release. Ghirahim chuckled. "What a piteous strike."

Varren stabbed at Ghirahim's chest. Another rotation, and the side of his blade was only knocked aside by one of his orbiting diamonds. Foreseeing the next energetic item, Varren quickly flowed with the direction in which his sword was knocked as to avoid the second object.

However, Varren hadn't taken the Demon Lord himself into account. Ghirahim kneed the gentleman in the chest, using the direction in which he was going against him. Ghirahim kicked Varren's already-wounded stomach, powerful enough to toss him off of the ground slightly. The gentleman landed on his back with a thud.

Now it was time for Kirby to charge forwards, summoning his own small, blue sword of energy. He jumped in the air, holding the energetic blade above his head. "Hyaa!" He landed in front of the Demon Lord, slamming his light-blue energy sword on the ground. In an instant, there was a vertical slash in midair, which familiarly pursued Ghirahim. However, he was shielded from his blast, one of the diamonds blocking the attack for him. Likewise, the second diamond came towards the pink hero, who jumped over it, letting his beam-sword dissipate as to summon his hammer. He swung the hulking pile of wood at Ghirahim's face.

With a quick movement of the arm, Ghirahim was holding onto the head of Kirby's weapon. The Demon Lord grinned teasingly at Kirby. "You didn't think that it would be that easy, did you?" Another orbit slammed against the pink hero. The hammer was still in Ghirahim's hand. The other diamond zoomed towards Kirby while he was spiraling backwards, mowing him into the ground.

Varren had to stop this. He couldn't simply stand by while his comrades were in agony. But what could he do? He observed the situation carefully. If Varren were to charge in headfirst, just as his companions appeared to be doing, then the results would end up the same; he would be blocked and countered by the two projectiles. The actual foe was powerful enough by himself, but the fact that he had those energetic diamonds surrounding him nonstop made him nearly impossible to defeat! The only plausible solution would be…

Meta Knight stood next to the gentleman, then offered his hand to him. "I can tell by the way you're looking at him that you're planning something."

Varren took Meta Knight's hand, standing up from off the ground. "I suppose you could say that it's more revolving around exploiting the weaknesses of our enemy, and I'm proud to say that I've come up with something." Varren pointed at Ghirahim, who was busy grinning with a sickening delight as his diamond-shaped weapon drew back to him, away from Kirby. "The Demon Lord's energetic attacks, constantly orbiting him, those are our main problems. With them in the way, we can't even bother to have a chance of fighting him in the first place! We have to get rid of them, so that way we could at least have somewhat of a fair chance." The gentleman looked down in hopelessness. "However, I'm discouraged by the fact that I haven't the slightest clue as to how we could manage to dispose of them in the first place…"

"Hmph." Meta Knight turned his gaze to Kirby, who was just beginning to recover from being pulverized into the ground. "He's the end of your worries, if that's your only problem."

Varren followed Meta Knight's gaze, staring at Kirby curiously. "Oh? And what makes you say this?"

"He has the ability to consume, destroy, and replicate his surroundings, or at least give his version of their mirror image. He mimics others' techniques. Don't you remember what had happened when he saved you from that explosion?"

Varren began to recall the event that occurred only about an hour ago. Ghirahim had blasted that massive, fiery attack, but Kirby had stepped in the way, and had somehow consumed the entire deal with some force of suction. Varren nodded. "Yes, I remember." He turned his gaze back to Ghirahim once more, who was simply staring at them by this point. "Are you suggesting that we use this ability of Kirby's to consume his energetic means of combat? Why, that's brilliant!"

At the mention of the pink hero, Kirby began to make his way up to the gentleman. Varren wondered if Kirby had caught on to anything that they'd just said. If not, then they would have to repeat themselves and take the risk of the listening ears of the Demon Lord.

Kirby simply stared at Varren in confusion as a response. "Auuh…?"

Meta Knight looked to the pink hero. "Kirby!" The puffball turned his gaze towards Meta Knight. "You know what you must do."

Kirby grinned, somewhat excited. "Kirby-Kirby-Kirby-_Kirby_!" He ran towards the Demon Lord.

Ghirahim simply shook his head in pity and disbelief. _Are they honestly sending _him _to face me again?_ He stood there, waiting for Kirby's arrival; he knew that his diamond-like barriers would slap him aside.

In an instant, Kirby stopped in his tracks. His mouth wide open, a familiar suction force emanated from him; Ghirahim's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't seen that coming! The Demon Lord himself had little to no problem in holding his footing, despite the massive amount of pull, but it wasn't himself that he was worried about. He was worried about his energy being dragged away.

Sure enough, his fears were becoming a reality. The diamond-like energy bits were being rapidly sucked towards Kirby. In went one, and then the other. The pink puffball swallowed. A crown formed on his head, on top of which was the shape of a diamond. Energetic projectiles, identical to the ones Ghirahim had, surrounded him, constantly orbiting him.

Ghirahim stared at Kirby in shock. He wasn't used to anyone stealing his energy, and, even more so, he wasn't used to someone mimicking his attacks. "So you can copy other peoples' abilities, can you?" His surprised gaze slowly morphed into a calm, cool and collected one. "You three seem to be quite the challenge, even when I'm in _this_ form. But don't clap for yourselves quite yet, now." He licked his lips eagerly. "This battle has only just begun."

The Demon Lord sprinted to Kirby.

Varren watched this happen from a distance. He had to act now. He knew that Kirby could handle his own quite easily at this point due to the fact that he'd gained a fraction of Ghirahim's powers, but still, he simply had to do something. Now the Demon Lord could be fought! Now there was a reasonable chance of success!

Varren quickly confronted Ghirahim before Kirby could. Sword at the ready, he slashed at Ghirahim's neck.

The Demon Lord held his arm in the way, blocking the attack with relative ease. "I believe that you should recall the power behind my arms, _Varren_!" He pushed his arm forward to shove the gentleman backwards, but only slightly.

Varren quickly regained himself, and lunged forwards again. As he did so, Meta Knight charged next to him. Varren channeled his energy into his blade, then jabbed at Ghirahim's heart. The Demon Lord countered by grabbing onto the tip of Varren's blade. Thankfully for the gentleman, Meta Knight caught up with the action; he sliced at Ghirahim's neck. Ghirahim ducked underneath the attack. Meta Knight turned in midair to jab his sword in the ground, holding onto his handle to keep himself from landing. Meta Knight kicked at the Demon Lord. Ghirahim let go of Varren's blade to vanish into nothingness. The masked alien yanked his sword out of the ground, then let himself land.

The Demon Lord reappeared several feet away from Varren and Meta Knight. He laughed in delight as he held his pitch black arms. "How will you dodge this?" Red, energetic diamonds began to surround Ghirahim, then floated into the air. The projectiles high in the air began to multiply, splitting in two, then in fourths, and so on. The Demon Lord cast both of his arms downward; the energy diamonds violently fell down from the sky.

Thankfully for the two warriors, Kirby came to the rescue. He jumped in the air, then held his breath to float higher. He turned to face the diamonds, then released two of his own. The two diamonds around the pink warrior orbited him rapidly, spinning like a helicopter top. Diamonds clashed against each other in a vicious battle of few against many. The little that weren't blocked by Kirby were easily avoided by Varren and Meta Knight.

Ghirahim summoned his sword. He jumped high into the air, holding his weapon over his head. He fell down towards Kirby, who had just finished blocking the projectiles. The Demon Lord slammed his sword down onto Kirby's crown. Both diamonds that were orbiting Kirby tried desperately to protect the pink hero, but were shattered against Ghirahim's tough arms.

Kirby fell to the ground helplessly. Though falling, Ghirahim raised his sword into the air. It began to glow a dark-blue color. Then the Demon Lord slashed down at the falling Kirby, a dark-blue wave of energy falling down towards him.

Though one wing was missing, Meta Knight jumped in the way of the blast to defend his rival. He'd done this before; he knew that he could do it again. The masked alien slashed at the blast of energy, which sent it back to Ghirahim's direction. The Demon Lord smirked, unsurprised as he was before. He slashed at the energetic attack next, sending it back towards Meta Knight. Quickly seeing a pattern, Meta Knight realized that this clash would be pointless. He quickly slashed at the side of the energetic attack, sending it away from them.

The Demon Lord landed on the ground with a thud, then kicked at Meta Knight. The masked warrior jumped over the attack. He whipped his cape towards Ghirahim's direction. "Behold my power…" The area turned pitch black; not even Ghirahim could see. Footsteps were heard, but the Demon Lord couldn't tell from where. A vicious, golden slash cut into the air. The sound of penetrated skin echoed through the darkness.

Light returned to reveal Ghirahim clenching at his chest, a massive, bloody scratch mark staining his white clothes. Meta Knight was standing next to Varren, staring at Ghirahim. The Demon Lord growled in annoyance. "How dare you? A creature such as yourself causing a wound to _me_?" Ghirahim vanished, then reappeared in front of Meta Knight. He furiously slashed at the one who'd been so foolish to injure him.

Meta Knight hadn't the time to react. He was hit in the center of his body, and was sent tumbling across the ground. Thankfully though, the mask he was wearing took most of the damage. Unfortunately for his pride, it broke in two. As for Meta Knight himself, he simply stood lay there on the ground, motionless.

Varren stared at Meta Knight. _Was that truly enough to render him unconscious? The power behind this cretin's blows must be astronomical!_

Ghirahim roared in blind rage, interrupting Varren's thoughts. "How _dare_ you injure _me_!" He sliced at Varren's direction now. The gentleman parried, but stumbled backwards due to the force behind it. He nearly lost the grip on his blade. As he was stumbling, the Demon Lord kicked Varren's chest.

The gentleman wheezed, feeling his ribs crackle around in his body. He stumbled backwards again, but quickly caught himself. Ghirahim lunged again.

Time was slowed down for Varren. Thoughts raced through his mind. If he were to attack now, the chances of him succeeding would be quite high, considering the fact that his enemy was in a psychologically unstable state. This was his time to strike; he had to hit fast and hard. Slowly, time began to resume itself. Ghirahim was lunging at Varren with the speed of a slow-motion movie. The gentleman channeled the energy into his blade, then slashed over Ghirahim's wound on his chest, making an 'X.' Ghirahim began to stumble back, still moving quite slowly.

Then something quite peculiar happened. When his blade penetrated Ghirahim's skin, he could feel his own energy inside the Demon Lord, as if it wasn't even being used at all. Perhaps he could use this energy in place of Ghirahim? Could it be possible to control an energy source that was already inside someone else's body? Now was the time to find out.

Varren concentrated, beckoning to the familiar, dark-blue energy within Ghirahim. _Come to me_, he thought. He could now feel his energy which resided within the Demon Lord fall under his own command; a confident grin spread across his face. If he couldn't damage him from the outside, he would tear him apart from the inside, using the very energy inside.

Time resumed itself, back to normal. Ghirahim was panting, glaring at Varren. He began to run towards the gentleman, shouting angrily. "Damn you!"

But it was too late for the Demon Lord. Varren violently commanded his energy within Ghirahim to release itself, all of it at once. Ghirahim's eyes and mouth lit up with dark-blue energy. As his legs lost their life to them and fell to the ground, he cried out in agony, energy exploding from him. This was a pain unlike any other. This was humiliating. This was defeat! Ghirahim tried desperately to fight the pain. He put his hands on the ground, trying to push himself up, but a quick burst within the constant stream of energy stopped him in the midpoint of his action. He writhed on the ground, crying out in pain.

Eventually, the energy began to die out, the continuous explosion began to soften and dim, until the point came where it was nonexistent. The Demon Lord was panting heavily.

Varren stared at Ghirahim in astonishment. "Are you still alive…?" he asked quietly. That was an incredible feat, to survive through that kind of torment. _How on earth…?_

The pale horror sloppily stood up, his eyes and mouth steaming. His grey hair was a complete mess. He glared at Varren with a look that could kill a baby. But he did not lunge in for yet another attack, for he knew that he'd been beaten. The Demon Lord took a step back, chuckling quietly to himself madly. "Count yourself lucky, suited man. You've earned—" a hacking cough escaped his throat. "—my respect. I'll let you live a little bit longer." Slowly, he began to fade away into diamond-shaped particles from the legs up. "But know this, _Varren_: When next our blades dance, and the air is clear of the gnats that constantly aid you, I shall crush you, and torture you without relent while I listen to your delightful screams of agony…"

There was no trace left of the Demon Lord. They'd done it. Ghirahim was defeated. At last, they'd done it.

Varren sighed in relief, then clenched his wounded stomach. "Goodness me, what a battle…" He shook his head, shocked that it had resulted in his victory. At the beginning of this fight, he'd been so certain that he was going to die. The fact that he lived was miraculous, but he was thankful, nonetheless. He looked at his comrades. Both Kirby and Meta Knight were unconscious.

"I can't just leave them there…" he thought aloud, sheathing his blade. Varren walked over to the two warriors, smiling at them. "Thank you for your efforts… Let me show you my gratitude." The gentleman lifted Kirby up off the ground, and held him over his shoulder. Then Varren looked down to the two halves of Meta Knight's mask. Respecting his values, the gentleman refused to look upon the dark warrior's face. He bent down to pick up Meta Knight's mask, and then put the antihero on his shoulder, just as he'd done with Kirby.

Varren walked back to the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, which wasn't that far from here. The more the gentleman walked, the more he began to realize how fatigued he was from the battle. Varren tried to fight passed the tiredness. He had to get these friends to safety, and the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN was the safest place he knew of.

At last he'd made it back to the black saucer. The door slide upwards. Varren walked inside the craft, then placed Kirby and Meta Knight down on the several, comfy chairs, allowing them to rest. Varren put Meta Knight's mask in front of the monitor. "Computer, can you fix this mask?"

A monotone voice replied, "Yes, of course, master Varren. Scanning content of broken objet: Please wait..." A blue light flashed over the mask, then moved to the right of the halves, then to the left. The light blinked out. "Scan completed. Beginning the conjoining process: Please wait…" Heat was placed onto the mask halves; the metal that they were made out of began to melt, then blend together again as liquids. Then it began to shift around, slowly returning to its original shape.

This was a very tedious process. On top of that, Varren couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed at the fact that the computer was constantly repeating itself, but he knew that it would restore the pride that Meta Knight had lost in the battle he had with Ghirahim.

Varren couldn't begin to imagine how much losing to the Demon Lord in itself must've hurt, but having his mask broken in half on top of that would have scarred him for quite the long time. He couldn't allow Meta Knight to go through that kind of pain.

The female, monotone voice broke the silence. "Process completed. Mask restored."

Varren sighed in relief. "Ah, good to hear it," he said. The gentleman grabbed the mask, went to Meta Knight. He looked away from the antihero's exposed face, then tried to feel around for where the face _was_, exactly. It was rather hard for him to do since he Meta Knight felt quite round, similar to Kirby, but once he felt as if the mask was where it was supposed to be, he stopped his constant adjusting. He looked at Meta Knight to check if it was on properly or not. Thankfully, it was.

Varren sighed in relief, then sat down in a chair of his own. He closed his eyes as he spoke to the computer. "I'm going to rest, computer. If these two try to escape this ship, allow them to leave. Understand?"

"Yes, master Varren," it replied.

The gentleman sighed, smiling at the computer's cooperation. It seemed as if the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN was really the only thing he could trust. He didn't mind this thought, though. In fact, he was quite happy that he could take comfort in residing within this ship.

But his smile could not last. He didn't find any of the missing fragments of his to become more powerful. There were no energetic artifacts found. He'd accomplished nothing by being here, and it was all because of Ghirahim and his minions.

Wait a minute. Ghirahim's minions… Varren remembered seeing both Kirby and Meta Knight conquering both of them for him. Upon their deaths, their energy had channeled itself into him. _Oh yes, that's right!_ he thought. _So I suppose that this trip wasn't a waste of time after all! _Another sigh escaped from the gentleman, this time out of relief. _Thank goodness I managed to accomplish something, even though I was cut off my those cads._

Continuing to think to himself about how achieved he was as he basked in the relief of success, Varren let himself fall into a blissful sleep.

Blissfully unaware, that is, for a question still remained: Why didn't he sense the energy emitting from the creature he fought back at the Great Wizard Chad's world when fighting it? He'd soon discover why…


	11. Off to the Party

Varren woke from his slumber in the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. The wound in his stomach had healed over the night, but the gentleman wasn't in the least bit surprised. He knew that he was a fast healer. The assumption as to why played in his mind. _Probably because of the energy that was consumed yesterday_.

Then Varren remembered that he'd carried in Meta Knight and Kirby into the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN as well in order to give them a place to recover. He looked at the two guest seats, where he'd placed the two. Meta Knight had left while Varren was sleeping, but Kirby was still lost in his dreams in a peaceful rest.

The gentleman wasn't sure whether to let Kirby sleep and let him fully regain himself, or to wake up the pink hero and send him off elsewhere so he could continue his own adventure. For just a brief moment, Varren experienced an emotional contradiction. But this was simply for a moment. The gentleman quickly drew the conclusion that he should move Kirby out of his ship. After all, Varren didn't want to sit around waiting. He couldn't stand waiting.

He patted Kirby's head gently, yet firmly. "Wake up, now."

Kirby slowly opened up his eyes, then stared at Varren sleepily. "Ehhh…?"

Truth be told, Varren was slightly annoyed with the task of waking Kirby up, but he didn't let that waver his friendly smile. "You should leave now, if you don't mind. You can't stay here locked in my ship forever, can you?"

The pink hero curiously looked around the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. He wasn't used to the metallic surroundings. Then Kirby's gaze landed on the constantly spinning, small black hole, trapped behind some kind of glass that somehow managed to bear the pressure of such a powerful force.

Varren noticed the young hero's confusion. To reassure the small puffball, he patted Kirby's head, still grinning at his companion. "Oh, that's right, you weren't conscious when I put you in my ship, were you? I'm sorry if this is a bit strange to you, what, with how you enjoy the forest-like surroundings and all. But don't worry. You can be out of here in no time."

Kirby didn't exactly want to leave though. Varren could tell as much by the curiosity in the hero's eyes. That was the familiar look of adventure that he had seen back when he first came into contact with Kirby, that desire to go off on a magical quest, slay demons, and suchlike. Varren sympathized with his pink friend. "I understand that you want to stay here and explore the universe with me, Kirby, but really, you have your world to defend. One world is quite a lot, trust me. It just doesn't seem like it's that much to me because I don't have the time to examine _all_ of it. Your planet is much bigger than you think it is."

Kirby stared at the gentleman for a long moment. During this time, Varren wondered if Kirby had understood a word that was spoken. However, Kirby nodded his head, smiling brightly at Varren. "Yah!"

Varren could then take comfort in the fact that the hero at least processed his words. He gestured with his hand to shoo Kirby away, yet he had a friendly smile. The emotion mixed with the action was quite a confusing contradiction; Kirby only gave a puzzled stare in return.

"Alright," Varren said friendlily, "thank you for understanding." (Saying this as if Kirby had agreed wholeheartedly to leave, even though Kirby was just staring at him in confusion) "I hope to see you again someday!"

Kirby reluctantly walked out of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, still slightly dumbfounded by what had just happened.

Varren watched as the door closed behind Kirby. The gentleman sighed in relief. At last, Varren could take comfort in the idea of isolation. He always enjoyed being alone. Ever since he was young, Varren had enjoyed isolation, and couldn't 'function properly' throughout the rest of his day unless he had at least four hours' time to himself, or so he used to say. But now look what he was doing. Varren was making new companions left and right, and it was quite possible that he was going to make yet another one.

Varren had to put himself out in the world, so that he could become stronger and save the universe from being enslaved by Darmaque's malevolent reign. The gentleman turned his gaze to the massive screen. "I'm sure you know your orders from here. Get me as close to Darmaque as you can. I don't want this adventure of mine to drag out for too long, after all. I've already been out here for nearly a week or more!"

A see-through, light-blue hologram emerged from the screen. It was the same woman as always, wearing what seemed to be a white, sleeveless shirt with equally white, ragged pants

Now that Varren got a good look at her attire, her clothes reminded him of what someone in an insane asylum would wear.

Just as the gentleman was about to consider if it was mentally healthy for him to take comfort in talking to someone wearing such clothes, the guide of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN spoke in her usual, monotone voice. "I must advise against combatting Darmaque, master Varren."

"And why is this?"

The female projection stared at him blankly. "Answer: With all due respect, it's quite easy to calculate that the chances of your success against him are below one percent, optimistically. From what I have scanned through your memories while you slept, it seems as though you struggled to defeat Ghirahim when he transformed, as well as before the transformation even took place. Darmaque, considering the power he possesses, is more than capable of casting the Demon Lord aside in his current form. If you struggled as hard as you did against Ghirahim—"

Varren finished the guide's sentence thoughtfully. "—that would be the reasoning as to why I wouldn't stand a prayer against him at my level of power."

For the first time, the guide smiled weakly at Varren. "Precisely, master Varren. I'm entitled to protect and advise you the best way I can, as it is what I was programmed to do. I refuse to allow you to engage Darmaque in combat, but as for getting you to the nearest destination of his current location, that is something that would be safe for you to explo—"

"Just a moment," Varren interrupted. "I apologize for my rudeness in interrupting you, guide, but there's been something that's been puzzling me for quite the while."

"I am programmed to answer nearly every question that you can offer to me, master Varren. What troubles you?"

Varren looked up at the ceiling of his ship in deep thought, placing his thumb on his chin, forefinger on the side of his cheek in his usual thinking position. "Every time I ask you to transport me to the closest you can safely have me arrive to Darmaque, you instead bring me to a place in which my energy resides, rather than fulfilling my request. When it'd happened the first time, I simply thought it was because we weren't close enough. The second time was acceptable as well because it was only twice that we'd ever traveled. But the third time, I thought that we might at least be about halfway there. I began to grow suspicious, and since then, my suspicion has only continued to strengthen."

The guide of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN said something Varren never thought he'd hear the female projection say: "I'm afraid that I cannot answer that, master Varren."

The gentleman blinked in confusion and turned his gaze back to the projection herself. He tilted his head to the side, completely flabbergasted. "You're refusing to answer me? Why's this? Weren't you programmed to obey me?"

The guide responded with tasteless, but kind manners. "As I've said in the past, master Varren, I am also programmed to advise you in the best way I can, and protect you at all costs. The answer to this question which you have provided would only influence you to charge into your own demise. I discourage any questions similar to this."

Varren stared at the guide of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN in complete and total surprise, entirely unused to someone refusing to answer his questions. Varren was a man of intellect and inquiry, so he often made sense in the questions which he would ask. Since this was the case, people usually _answered_ his questions when he asked them, friend and foe alike. It was always a shock to the gentleman when someone simply refused to comply with his curious mind.

All the same, Varren nodded, trying to understand that the guide simply wanted to protect him, but the fact that the answer to this question would have _led Varren to his death _sincerely bothered and confused him. Now there was an even greater amount of suspicion in his heart.

But he needed to put aside his curiosity and deal with the sheer lack of knowledge in this situation, no matter how badly it bothered him to not _know_ things. He couldn't waste any more time with thoughts and questions, and it was obvious that time in itself was quite limited. "Alright then, take me off to the location please." He glanced down momentarily, then added, "Thank you for protecting me, by the way." Varren hoped that he didn't sound as bitter as he felt.

"You're welcome, master Varren. Beginning the process of travel."

With that, a wormhole forced itself open in the air, and the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN launched into yet another unknown destination.

**With Darmaque…**

Darmaque was sitting in his throne, frantically mumbling to himself in a fit of madness. "I could easily—no, no, I must wait. Wait, I must wait. But I don't want to wait. I want to act _now_! No, no, you must wait, Darmaque, you must wait…"

Then he could feel Ghirahim's presence appear in the room. Darmaque hoped that the Demon Lord had _failed _in capturing Varren. After regaining his sight of common sense, the future ruler of the universe had constantly been telling himself to wait later on. He'd told himself that Varren wasn't meant to be brought to him _yet_, but, all in due time, Varren could be in his grasp.

Ghirahim was panting in exhaustion, then he knelt down in front of Darmaque. "I'm sorry, my lord. I have failed to retrieve Varren for you."

Darmaque smiled triumphantly. "Good! Wonderful, wondrous! _Wonderfully _wondrous!"

Ghirahim stared at Darmaque, completely dumbfounded. "Excuse me?"

The overlord mumbled as if he were talking to himself, but his speech was toward Ghirahim. "You see, Demon Lord, we cannot capture him now. He's not ready, Varren is _not ready_ to appease me. We need to wait, we need to wait… Patience, Ghirahim."

The Demon Lord couldn't believe what he was hearing. He'd done so much to retrieve Varren. Ghirahim had gone through hell in his fight with the gentleman. The Demon Lord put in so much effort, sacrificed both of his minions, had his pride stomped on by a mere creature as frail as Varren was, and his transformation had been put to waste, only to be told that he needed to be patient before he was to actually _retrieve_ Varren? The most infuriating thing was that Darmaque had stupidly changed his mind in the midst of all this!

But Ghirahim did not complain. He knew better than that. The Demon Lord needed to be tolerant with Darmaque, if he was meant to overthrow him, and become the new overlord of the universe. Ghirahim bowed politely. "As you wish, lord Darmaque."

**With Varren…**

Another wormhole, a zoom, and then a sudden halt. Varren was now on a different planet. "Alright," the gentleman said, "where have we arrived this time?"

The guide responded in a monotone voice, as usual. "Answer: We are on planet Hashmagan. This planet is populated with intelligent life. The history of this planet is quite unique. In the earlier stages of this civilization, massive rock, inside which contained strong amounts of magic, crashed onto the planet. The magical components of the rock, combined with its collision with the planet, resulted in coating the entirety of the area in magic, even its population. The magic infused itself within the genes of the population, and has been passed down ever since. Strangely enough, it's quite rare that you will ever see a legitimate wizard in this planet, despite their natural inclination for magic. Most of the time, you will find that they will be able to control their appearances through polymorphic tendencies, but that will be the only magical skill they will possess."

The gentleman grinned in interest. "Oh my, it seems very appealing! I assume that there have been tales of heroism?"

"The answer is no, master Varren. This is part of what makes the planet's history so unique. While it's true there _have_ been a very small amount of wars, there are no records of adventurous plots to correspond with these wars. Despite their magical abilities, they seem to be a surprisingly peaceful planet."

The gentleman shrugged, trying to not let his prejudice cloud his general thought of the planet. Though he couldn't help but be disappointed. Varren was hoping for a planet with a lot of action, a lot of story and suchlike, but all he had was an explanation as to how they had magical abilities which they didn't _do_ much with. Still though, a planet didn't have to have an adventurous past to be an overall interesting planet. Plus, this _was_ a place in which his energy somehow managed to end up; the gentleman couldn't just stay here forever..

Varren sighed, then began to walk outside to see where they had landed. To greet him were trees, familiarly. But, unlike the other planets, he could actually see an end to the forest. Behind the trees was a city, filled with hustle and bustle. The gentleman couldn't help but grin. This place reminded him so much of his homeland. Varren was going to be very comfortable here, he could just feel it.

Then Varren could sense something from the city calling him closer, as if something wanted him to go there. Varren could detect his energy. What else could it have been? It seemed so familiar… only blending in even further with the general sense of familiarity of this planet. Contented with the idea of home, Varren let out a sigh. Hopefully it would be a cinch to get his energy, considering how peaceful it was recorded to be.

The gentleman headed towards the city. There weren't many trees for Varren to get passed in order to get to where he wanted to be. It was a straight line from here.

When he'd arrived at the place, Varren saw a sidewalk next to a concrete road. Out of instinct, he moved to the sidewalk to avoid being hit by whatever this planet might consider to be a vehicle.

As Varren continued to walk towards wherever the feeling of his energy was, he looked around the area to find that it was rather a beaten up, scruffy-looking down. There were bits of graffiti on brick walls, little doodles here and there. At first, Varren was intimidated by the drawings on the walls. Where he came from, these indicated that the town was corrupt and vile. But the messages that they communicated didn't seem to be all that bad. There was a poorly drawn man holding chopsticks in his hands as it was gulping down what appeared to be spaghetti. The idea was obviously innocent.

Words interrupted Varren's thought process. "Invitations to Glavius's party!" said the voice of a young male.

Varren looked to where the voice had come from. There was a strange, human-raccoon figure, handing out small papers to other human crossovers of animals.

The gentleman hadn't noticed the 'people' around him until he'd had his thoughts broken. Varren always _was_ the type to get lost in thought. Now he could acknowledge the fact that there were people walking passed and in front of him, since he wasn't ensnared by his thoughts. The gentleman stared at the house that the young human-raccoon was standing in front of. He could feel a small, yet noticeable attraction emanating from it; Varren could easily tell that his energy resided within that building.

The gentleman walked over to the human-raccoon. He used his most polite voice, unwilling to allow himself to get on the bad side of a newcomer. "Excuse me, sir, may I have a moment of your time?"

The human-raccoon turned his attention to Varren. For a moment, he stared at the gentleman somewhat condescendingly for some reason. Eventually though, the young creature forced a smile at Varren. "Yes, of course!" he exclaimed. "What can I do you for?"

Unable to recognize the disdainful look or the amount of effort it took for the smile, Varren pointed at the house momentarily. "Would you mind telling me who lives in this building?"

The young man answered Varren as if he were advertising a product. "Why, that would be Glavius himself! He's been hosting a party to celebrate a truly _phenomenal _discovery! Be there to witness the new beginning of how Hashmagans use magic today!"

The gentleman quickly came to the assumption that this 'Glavius' fellow was going to use _his_ energy to change how an entire species used _theirs_… How unrealistic. It wasn't that much power. Even if Glavius _could_ distribute his small amount of power across an entire species, they wouldn't know how to control it. It was obvious to Varren that they hadn't put much thought into this 'plan.'

Nonetheless, Varren needed to get into this party, no matter how little reasoning, or lack thereof, there was. The gentleman held out his hand, smiling at the human-raccoon. "Would you mind if I were to have an invitation?"

The young man shook his head. "Nope, I'm afraid that I can't let you in. Judging by how you're in your human form, you obviously don't have that much control of your magic. This place is for higher class only."

Varren didn't like this person's reasoning before, but now he was _really_ starting to get annoyed. If this party was _truly_ for higher classed members of society as he claimed, then he wouldn't be offering invitations out to the common public! Varren knew that the human-raccoon was being prejudice against him. But he couldn't get angry. He knew that the young man was ignorant of his whereabouts; it wouldn't be fair if Varren were to shout at this person. All the gentleman could do now was simply abide by the logic that was displayed, but manipulate it so that he could get what he wanted.

Varren put his hand on his chest as he gave a courteous bow. "I'm aware of my lower class, sir. But that's why I've come here. I wanted to gain a portion of this magic so I could learn how to transform, just as everyone else can. Please, allow me this chance."

The human-raccoon stared at Varren thoughtfully. The gentleman hoped that he was putting on a good show. The human-raccoon sighed, then offered Varren an invitation to the party. "Okay, you're right. I'm sure that this is what Glavius would want. You're free to go in." He must have succeeded.

Varren smiled as he took the invitation off the young creature's hands. "Thank you, sir. I believe that you've made the right choice." With that, the gentleman walked into the building.


	12. This Was Unexpected

Varren walked into the small, normal-looking building to see that it was longer in length than he had given it credit for. The other corresponding wall was much further away than it appeared to have been from when he first glanced at it outside. It was also much fancier than it was outside. There were decorative vases placed on pedestals. Each pedestal had a red jewel on its center.

The entirety of the floor was carpeted a beige color. To the left of Varren, there was a black fireplace. Straight ahead of the gentleman, he could see a dining area with food against the wall furthest away from him. Above the table was a chandelier, lights coated with see-through diamonds. To the right, Varren could see a white door and a stand.

And of course, there were multiple human-crossovers. There were human fox combinations, human bats, human squirrels—too many to name. If Varren didn't know any better, he would have guessed that he was in some kind of zoo.

But Varren didn't have any time to waste admiring these strange foreigners. He was here for one purpose only: To find the fraction of his energy that was lost and toreclaim it as his own. The human raccoon crossover had said to Varren that Glavius was the one hosting this party. If that was the case, then it was more than likely that this 'Glavius' fellow would have the energy.

The gentleman searched around for a figure that seemed to be important. The crowd of human-crossovers made that really hard for him to do. Due to the fact that none of them were _human_, Varren believed that everyone looked important. How was he supposed to find someone who radiated even more importance than these strange people?

A young, human squirrel with a black coat of fur walked in front of Varren. The gentleman knew that he wouldn't be able to figure this out on his own, so he simply had to ask the person closest to him, which would be the commoner that had just passed him by.

Varren tapped the young squirrel's shoulder to try and get his attention. "Excuse me, but do you know where Glavius is?"

The black, human squirrel's breath caught in his throat. He turned around to reveal that _he _was actually a _she_. She spoke in a slightly annoyed tone. "I'm his servant, actually. I'm off to see him right now."

Varren was slightly startled by the female voice, but he quickly discarded his shock to replace it with his usual, proper behavior. The gentleman cleared his throat. "I would appreciate it if you were to help me find Glavius. You see, there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding with this party that I must explain to him. It's quite urgent, you know."

"He's too busy to have you talk to him," she replied coolly.

The squirrel turned back around to continue wherever it is that she was going, but Varren quickly put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Hold on, please. I don't believe that you understand how big of a result this confusion is going to make on your planet. For the sake of your own people, I highly recommend letting me talk to him."

The black squirrel yanked her way out of Varren's grip to resume her walk off towards the white door. "You talk too much as it is."

Exasperated, Varren stared at the young creature as she continued to walk off. The gentleman dared not protest though. He could tell that this woman was quite strong, and appeared to have quite the short fuse; if he were to attempt to gain Glavius's whereabouts a third time, it would only annoy this person as badly as she had annoyed him. However, one thing from this could be assumed: Glavius resided behind that door; he would come out and reveal his appearance on his own behalf.

Varren sighed, putting aside his annoyance. There was no need to be bothered. Besides, Varren could still explain the situation to Glavius once the party was over. Nothing was lost.

The gentleman watched as the dark-furred squirrel walked through the white door. Then a thought crossed Varren's mind: He had no way of knowing that Glavius was actually _in _that room. He wanted to be one-hundred percent sure that his assumptions were correct. Varren closed his eyes, sensing for his energy around the area. Sure enough, a familiar aura rested behind that door. It was his energy, right behind the door where he had guessed it would be. However, something was wrong. It felt as if some negative force was hovering over it, eager to get its greedy hands around it. Varren feel his energy's ensnared predicament.

Could it be that Glavius wasn't as kind as Varren had originally assumed, and that he was going to have the energy all to himself rather than sharing it with his species? That's what seemed to be true, but, once again, Varren couldn't simply let his first assumption be his last. He needed to make sure that he was correct, but with no way of figuring it out other than waiting for the time for Glavius to come out to present the energy, there was little he could do apart from this. It was his only option… but the one choice he was provided with didn't seem to be that bad.

Suddenly, a voice interrupted his thoughts. "You seem pretty stressed," said a male. Varren was startled, his consciousness instinctively recoiling from its own reality and back into the physical world. There was a brown fox standing in front of him, smiling at him friendlily. "I see that you've been having a hard time using magic, eh?"

Varren nodded at the figure. "Y-Yes, that's right. I've never been that good at using my magic to manipulate my body, but, I'm getting pretty decent in using it for combat. I actually intend to join the military someday, if they'll let me," he lied. Lying to the common public wasn't something that Varren would normally do. In fact, he looked down scornfully upon those who told lies. But he had to blend in with the public. After all, Varren didn't want to make them feel uncomfortable around him.

The male fox pointed at Varren's clothes momentarily. "Is that why your attire's torn up like that?"

Varren stared at the brown figure in confusion before staring down at his clothes. His light-brown suit had small tears here and there, and a big one in his stomach from when Ghirahim had stabbed him when he was in Dreamland. The fact that he hadn't noticed these rips and tears made him extremely embarrassed. Why hadn't anybody pointed them out to him before now?

Varren nodded, going along with the story that the male had provided for him. "Yes, actually. I was going to change into something that was suitable for this party, but unfortunately, I simply didn't have time to do so. I was rushed, you see."

The brown fox nodded understandingly. "Yes, I do see. Well, good luck with your training, mister…"

The gentleman held out his hand. "Varren, Varren Siegfried." Truth be told, he had made up the last name off of the top of his head. Perhaps that should be his default name while traveling?

"Right," said the male fox. "Good luck, Mr. Siegfried. Oh, and my name's Terrance, by the way." Terrance smiled again before he walked away from Varren, joining the rest of the small crowd.

Varren sighed in relief. Terrance hadn't suspected a thing out of him. Varren hadn't known that he was such an excellent liar, considering that he'd rarely lied in the past.

But that wasn't important. Varren was still concerned about his energy being in the wrong hands, and about the unknown, negative force of energy. It was always good to be cautious. Once again, Varren concentrated on sensing for the artifact in which his energy resided.

To his surprise, the energy didn't feel as if it was in the same place as it was when he'd last checked. In fact, Varren could feel the link that guided him to his energy slowly getting weaker, as if it was being carried further away. Was Glavius stealing his energy and abandoning his own party? No, that wouldn't make any sense… If Glavius was going to run off with Varren's energy, he would have done so from the moment he got his hands on it.

Curious, Varren walked towards the white door, keeping it a short-term priority not to bump into anybody. The gentleman opened the door to find he was in a small room with two other doors, one in front of him, and one to the right of him. Strangely, the door on Varren's right was missing its knob. The only thing that was holding it in place was its hinges.

Varren pushed the door open, revealing a large room, the floor cemented, rather than carpeted. There were white baskets, all holding masks, costumes, fake crowns, chairs, and lights.

Varren felt a familiar attraction just ahead. He looked forward to see that it was the same squirrel with the dark coat of fur from earlier who had stolen his power, not Glavius at all! She wasn't a bodyguard, just a common thief!

Quickly, Varren raced after the female squirrel. "Stop, that energy does not belong to you!"

The dark, human-crossover flinched at the sound of Varren's voice. She made a run for it. As she was running, she crouched down to continue her running on all-fours, proving herself to be much quicker than Varren could hope to be.

Time began to slow down for the gentleman as thoughts rushed through his mind. What could he do? Varren had to find some way to outrun someone who was obviously at least twice as fast as he was. It was an impossible task, but it needed to be accomplished if he was to retrieve his energy. Then Varren remembered the incident in which he let his energy travel across his sword to release an attack. Perhaps he could do the same in this situation as well, but instead of putting it in his weapon, all around his body to coat himself in energy? If his plans worked as he'd hoped they would, Varren would be able to manipulated his coat of energy to make himself move at a faster pace, thus capturing this fiend to retrieve his energy. While it was true that he'd never done anything like this before, it was the only spontaneous idea that had come into his mind, and Varren happened to enjoy the concept of being able to travel faster than he would normally be able to do.

Experimenting, Varren took in a deep breath and let his imagination take control. He envisioned himself as a silhouette, dark-blue energy circulating throughout his veins with a particularly large portion of it in his center. The gentleman imagined that the energy expanded until it seemed to be outlining his skin. As a result, a thin layer of dark-blue formed on top of his skin. Things had gone well so far. Now all Varren had to do was manipulate an entire mass of energy in a single point of time. Varren had done something similar to this only once before with Ghirahim, but it wasn't concentrated, and he didn't exactly make it _go _anywhere. Back then, it was simply a massive explosion. This was far more different. This wasn't fighting, this was transportation. But Varren had to try. The gentleman focused hard, envisioning that the outlined energy was zooming off towards the greedy squirrel.

As a result, Varren bolted forwards. Time immediately resumed its normal speed, and, before the thieving crossover could do anything, Varren tackled her to the ground. The dark squirrel struggled in an attempt to get out of Varren's grip, but the gentleman simply wouldn't allow her to flee. Considering how feeble of a position his opponent was in, Varren could tell that he could easily knock her unconscious to retrieve his energy. But the gentleman wasn't willing to. He'd never been too keen on fighting women.

Instead of combatting this woman, Varren decided to let his tongue be his blade. "Madam, I believe that you have something that I've traveled quite a long ways to get. I also believe that you're stealing, which is against the law, assumingly. In order to get out of this situation peacefully, I strongly advise that you return the energy to me _now_." Then again, Varren had never been very intimidating.

The female squirrel simply hissed angrily at Varren, tail flailing around Varren's still-coated ankle. Her struggles were useless. "Let me go!"

The gentleman could tell that he wasn't getting to the thief; it was obvious to Varren that he needed to be more intimidating than that. _Alright_, he thought, _I'll give it my best shot…_ He glared sternly at the dark squirrel. "If you don't return my energy right this instant, I will be forced to render you unconscious or deceased!"

The dark squirrel unwrapped her tail, seeing that it wasn't strong enough to drag Varren off of her. She simply hissed again in defiance, wriggling around desperately.

Varren could see that none of his intimidations had any effect on this thieving squirrel. He was out of ideas as to how he could threaten this woman to the point where she would simply hand his energy back to him; he had no idea what he could say._ Perhaps I'm speaking to her about this wrongly…_

Varren sighed, deep in thought. The dark thief took advantage of the gentleman's moment of weakness; she yanked her wrist out of Varren's grip, at last escaping from his clutches. She stood up to make another run for it.

Varren could see as much, so he simply zoomed to his feet once more, in front of the black squirrel to hold onto both of her arms tightly. He pinned her against a large stack of white baskets. The gentleman stared at the black squirrel, eyes full of curiosity. _What on earth is she thinking…?_ In fact, Varren asked, "Tell me, ma'am, what on earth do you plan to do with that energy once it's obtained?"

The female thief struggled once again, glaring at Varren. "It's not any business of yours!"

Varren continued to stare at her, his gaze softening. It was then that he realized that this anthropomorphic squirrel had goals quite similar to his own. She wanted to gain power so she could feel happier with herself (or so he assumed), and he wanted the power to defeat an evil overlord who was attempting to enslave the universe. True, they wanted power for different reasons, but their similar goals caused Varren to sympathize with the young woman.

_Perhaps I should help her,_ Varren thought. _I know that I would want someone to help _me_ if _I _was hunting for power for a greater cause_. _However, I can't know for certain that she wants the power for a just reason. It's quite likely that I might be helping evil if I give her lessons as to how to use her energy from what I've learned. Do I truly want to take this chance? Well… not yet. First I need to get her to trust me. Once the trust is born, maybe she'll want to stick around me for a little while. Then I can teach her to be kind. But how do I gain her trust…_

The gentleman only continued to stare at the squirrel in silence. He tilted his head to the side, then spoke with a confident tone. "You know, ma'am, I should probably warn you that you can't use the energy you've gained."

The black-furred crossover stared at Varren, dismayed by how sure he sounded. "How can _you_ know?"

Varren hesitated. He wasn't certain if this woman would believe him if he were to tell her the truth, so he decided it was best if he only told her a part of the truth. "I know because that energy isn't something that your planet has ever seen before. It's strange, and foreign. You won't know how to manipulate the energy to your liking because of this."

The squirrel looked down in loss. What Varren said made a great deal of sense. It seemed to be obvious to her that the gentleman was quite knowledgeable with energy.

Varren could see the defeat in the woman's eyes. Once again, he sympathized with her. Varren's kind heart told him that he should give this woman tips as to how to control her energy. "I do believe that I have the information you need in order to achieve your goals."

The young human-squirrel looked back up, staring at Varren in surprise. "You're actually willing to tell me this, even after everything that I've done?"

The gentleman nodded, smiling at her friendlily. "Yes, that's right. I'd be more than willing to tell you, ma'am, but first, I would like you to tell me your name. Who are you?"

The woman was dumbfounded by Varren's friendly smile. She searched his eyes for lies about what he was saying, but this man seemed to be honest. Reassured by this, she felt a bit more comfortable to reply. "…I'm Spirit."

Varren hesitantly released her arms from his grip, unsure if she would actually stay put or not. To his relief, she stood right where she was. "Spirit's your name, then? Ah, that's a fine one. My name is Varren. It's a pleasure to meet you." The gentleman cleared his throat. "I believe I should get to what you find interesting now. Alright, as I said, I'd be more than willing to tell you how to better control your energy. For the moment though, we're in a public building. Even if we were to leave, we would still be in the city; there would be nowhere to train. Since this is the case, we have two options. Option number one: I simply use my words to tell you how to control your energy better. Option number two: I could give you somewhat of a physical example."

Spirit cast Varren a sly glance. "I don't mind either way for the moment, but I want you to show me how it's done later on, got it?"

The gentleman nodded. "Very well, ma'am, I'll do that later on. But, in the meantime… since I'm not really sure which method of explanation is better, I'll simply combine the two."

Spirit tilted her head in curiosity. "Oh? And how will you do that?"

Varren turned halfway around from whence he came. "Well, this _is_ a party, and I suppose that people _would_ be dancing, so—" He turned back to Spirit, holding out his hand. "—if you're willing, I suppose I could use the dance as a physical example, while also explaining to you how it works. Will you allow me?"

Spirit sighed as she took Varren's hand. "Alright, fine, why not?" She was hesitant in allowing Varren to dance with her, considering the fact that they'd gone from enemies to comrades in less than five minutes. But her interest as to how Varren could manage to pull this off in the first place increased even further. On top of that, this guy was her key to getting stronger. She had to take what was given to her.

Varren smiled, then guided Spirit back to the white door. With reluctance, the black-furred squirrel followed him. They went back to the small room, which consisted of literally nothing but two doors, then went back to the main room of the house.

Most of the visitors had already left for some reason, and those who remained were still on their way out. There was a human lion crossover with quite a distraught look on his face; Varren assumed that this figure was the 'Glavius' that he'd heard so much about.

But there was the music of a gentle harp playing in the background, which signified to Varren that the party was still going. The gentleman looked at the human squirrel. "Shall we?"

Spirit nodded, giving out another reluctant sigh. "We shall." It took the devious woman a moment to think of what it was that she needed to do, since she had never been asked to dance before. She only had an idea of what to do because she'd watched other people dance while watching movies. But she had something to work with, nonetheless. Spirit wrapped one of her arms around Varren's neck, then used her remaining one to hold Varren's hand.

Varren responded by wrapping one of his arms around Spirit's waist, using the other to holding her hand as well. There was a pause for him in which they were both staring at each other. Spirit was simply staring at Varren in silence, but as for the gentleman himself, he was lost in thought, ready to time his movement to the rhythm of the music in perfect harmony.

When Varren felt he could predict the next portion of the gentle harp's tune, he took a step to the Northwest. Spirit followed him. "Well, Spirit, all energy has a natural flow to it. Everything that lives has some kind of energetic flow," he told her.

The gentleman took his second step to the North. Likewise, Spirit moved with him, taking in every word he said. "In order to truly, and properly guide this energy, our goal is not to command it forcefully, rather to guide it, if you will—to point it in the right direction. If you were to forcefully use your energy, it would make the task of casting an energetic attack, or movement, or whatever it is you want to use your energy for—it would make the task of doing these things much harder than it truly is."

Varren took another step to the Northeast while Spirit followed him, nodding her head. He went on with his speech. "Think of maintaining your anthropomorphic form as an example of what I mean by 'guiding your energy in the right direction.' There's no violent effort put into the task in the slightest, is there?"

"No," Spirit responded. "There's hardly any effort at all, actually."

The gentleman took another step to the East. "Precisely the point I'm trying to make! While it's true that energetic attacks _are_ going to have a lot of effort, they can't disturb the constant flow of energy that's going on within your energetic stream."

Varren held Spirit a bit tighter with his one available arm, then leaned forwards as he dipped her down closer to the ground. "But, at the same time, you also have to know when an attack is too powerful for you to withhold. Otherwise—" He let the squirrel slip a tad. Spirit flinched, her tail moving between her back and the ground instinctively. "—the whole technique will end up exploding in your face, resulting in damaging the caster, rather than the opponent."

Varren patted himself on the back internally. He was proud of himself for sounding so professional when, in reality, he was only coming up with these ideas from the top of his head.

Then the music came to an abrupt halt. "Alright," he heard a voice say, "time to leave!"

Varren turned to where the voice came from to find that it was the human lion crossover that he'd noticed from earlier. Though, not one to complain, the gentleman stood up straight, holding up Spirit with him. He released the young squirrel from his grasp, brushing his torn, light-brown suit. "There you are, madam. I hope that I've helped you."

Spirit nodded as a token of her gratefulness. "You have, actually. Thank you." She looked to the side. The female squirrel was unsure as to how she could respond to the dance they'd just shared together. "I've seen from movies that that's actually a really good way to win over someone's heart," she bluntly stated. Then she turned back to the gentleman. "Not that you'd be interested, that is."

Varren blinked in confusion. "Is that so? I hadn't the slightest clue." He turned to look at Glavius momentarily before turning his attention back to Spirit. "Normally, I would return the artifact to Glavius, but since it's _mine_, well… we'll just apologize for his loss, understand?"

Spirit's squirrely ears perked up. "You mean we're actually keeping the energy that _I _stole? For what reason?"

Varren took Spirit's hand, taking her over to the human lion. "I'll explain later. But I want you to be a part of the apology. I mean that."

"Alright, fine…!"

The gentleman arrived in front of the massive figure. "Excuse me, sir, but I've noticed how bothered you seemed to be when I first came into this room with my friend here."

Glavius simply grunted in a response.

Varren hesitated before he continued. "I know why you're upset. It's because you've lost your energy that you'd planned to present at this party that you hosted. I'm sorry for your loss, sir."

Glavius looked to Varren in shock. "How could you possibly know this?"

The gentleman grinned with false kindness. "It's always been a talent of mine to see what's bothering those around me, you see. Not once has it been a difficult task for me to assume someone's problems, and it just so happens that my assumptions are always correct." He knew that he was lying, but within this lie, Varren was trying desperately to get as close to the truth as he could.

Glavius raised his eyebrows, slightly impressed to hear that from Varren. "Interesting. Thanks for worrying about me. I'll just…" His gaze wandered to Spirit, then fell upon her necklace. "Wait a minute…"

Varren cringed worriedly. _Oh dear_.

The human lion shouted furiously. "That's the crystal I discovered! Get over here, you thieving little witch!"

"C'mon, Varren!" Spirit enthused. "We can take him!

Varren couldn't fight Glavius! This man was an innocent civilian trying to ward off what he believed were a couple of thieves. Varren would have done nearly the same thing, if he were in Glavius's shoes! In order to avoid unnecessary violence, the gentleman would have to do the one thing that he would never do if he were in a normal duel.

Varren gripped Spirit's hand tightly. "Run!" he shouted as he fled to the main entrance, dragging the dark-furred squirrel along with him.

As Varren predicted, Spirit struggled to get free from his grasp. "What? Hey, hold on!"

Varren didn't give her anymore to do or say anything else. Quickly, he let his energy coat his skin, then maneuvered the thin layer the way he'd done earlier, causing him to bolt outside the building. At the sudden burst of speed, Spirit struggled in keeping her footing momentarily, but she soon skillfully caught herself, making little hops and leaps every now and then to avoid tripping. It didn't take Varren that long to leave the town at the newfound rate at which he was traveling, nor did it take him that long to reach the forest again; the gentleman knew exactly where his preserve was. Up ahead, he saw the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, right where he'd left it, as always.

Spirit stared at the massive, black saucer inquisitively, slowing down in sync with Varren until they both came to a complete halt. "What's _that_?"

The gentleman scratched the back of his head, the ship seeming so familiar to him that he thought that it should've been a normal thing for anyone to see. "That's right, I owe you an explanation, don't I? Very well, allow me to elaborate. That, Spirit, would be my way of getting to this planet. You see, I'm a traveler. The reason why I came to this planet, or rather why I was guided to it, is because of the fact that the energy which you wear around your neck is part of my very _being_. I'm unsure as to how, but some way or another, my energy has been scattered across the universe. I must recollect my energy to become powerful enough to defeat a monstrous villain named Darmaque, who wants to take over the entirety of the universe."

Spirit blinked in surprise, unsure of how to take all of this information at once. She wasn't even entirely sure if what Varren was saying was entirely accurate. It seemed farfetched. Spirit looked at Varren's eyes to search for falsehoods once again, but, to her surprise, she believed that he was telling the absolute truth. The black-furred squirrel blinked again. "That's... interesting. It sounds complex."

Varren nodded. "Yes, it's both of those things, no question about it. However, it's too dangerous for you. I'm afraid that this is the last time that you'll ever see me, Spirit."

Spirit paused for a moment, trying to take in what Varren had just said. Then she smirked. "I don't think so, V. You still owe me that physical demonstration you mentioned back in Glavius's house, remember?"

Varren froze. He was startled by both the fact that Spirit had remembered that as well as the new nickname that she had given to him. The gentleman sighed, then nodded. "Very well, I'll simply show you here."

Spirit's tail twitched in disapproval as she folded her arms. "No way, I want to see a demonstration in the heat of action! I'm coming along with you, whether you like it or not."

Varren grunted, staring at Spirit with something between a flabbergasted gaze and one of exasperation. Instead of further protesting though, he simply let out another sigh, bowing his head to the ground. "My word, this was unexpected."


	13. Observations

Darmaque raised his eyebrows. With the intent of travel that was radiating off of Varren's aura, the overlord was slightly startled when he felt another presence enter in the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. Even stranger, the second presence felt as if it was a dark one. What on earth was Varren doing?

Ghirahim noticed Darmaque's slight alarm. "Is there something wrong, my lord?"

Darmaque continued to stare off into nothingness for a while longer. Then he smirked as a small laughter escaped from his throat. "Nothing to be worried about, _nothing_," he answered. "The insect has just found another ant to relate to. It won't make a difference to me if there is one ant, or if there are two, or three—they're all the same, _all_ the same. Little bugs will come to die."

The Demon Lord couldn't help but grin. That was the first sentence that Darmaque had ever uttered that he actually _agreed_ with. Ghirahim put his right hand on his chest as he bowed politely. Internally, he hoped that this would be enough to share his approval with the lunatic. "Of course, Lord Darmaque."

**Meanwhile with Varren…**

The gentleman pointed at the black hole which was spinning around violently behind the glass. "You see, Spirit, that black hole would be our energy source. This is the only thing in existence powerful enough to act as a battery for a force of infinite knowledge, as well as an infinite amount of potential of travel over time. This is because a black hole has the potential to consume everything. Since the entirety of everything is never-ending, this would mean that the black hole has an infinite amount of power, since it is capable of consuming _all _physical matter. However, because of the fact that the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's energy source is only a small portion of a black hole, the amount of activity that it can do at one point of time pales in comparison to what a legitimate black hole is capable of."

Spirit stared at the black hole with interest, her tail flicking from side to side. "I see…"

Varren pointed at the projector, expecting Spirit's gaze to follow where his finger pointed. "And this can take on the role of two different things: A scanner and a projector. It manages to do these things because it can scan other objects or people, quite obviously, just as it can display the projection of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's guide."

The black squirrel looked at the projector for a moment before tilting her head to the side. "Oh, interesting."

Varren nodded, satisfied with Spirit's response. "Alright, glad that you could agree, madam. Now, I do believe that we'd best be on our way." He turned his gaze towards the massive screen which was below the projector. "Computer, take us to the nearest destination which contains my energy."

The familiarly monotone, female voice replied to Varren as it always did. "Yes, master Varren."

An instant later, a large wormhole opened up, allowing the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN to zoom through it, coming out on an entirely different area in just a split second. Spirit and Varren both stared outside of the ship through the massive screen in front of them. They were completely taken off guard when they saw where they were: In the midst of outer space. In front of them was a small ship, painted golden-orange. It looked like a half of a circle, somewhat. The window seals were all green. The bottom of this ship was painted black for the most part, but it also had small lines of red paint strewn in a seemingly random pattern as well. There were three rockets on the bottom as well, all pointed outwards.

Varren was the first to say something. "Where _are_ we, computer?"

The female voice responded as always. "Answer: You are in outer space. In this reality, an assassin named Samus Aran has come into contact with Solid Snake, otherwise known as David. Samus Aran has been working with the same organization in which David words: FOXHOUND. Furthermo-"

"Hold on just a moment," Spirit interrupted. "Go back to when you said, 'in this reality.' We can't _really_ be in a different reality, can we?"

"Answer: Yes, mistress Spirit. We have been traveling through different plains of existence since the beginning of master Varren's travels. Since the first planet, originally labeled the 'Mushroom World,' we have been traveling through alternate plains of existence. In some universes, the Mushroom World is called the 'Super Mario World,' but I detect that the name of this planet is the least of both of your worries. To specify: Yes, this, too, is an alternate universe."

Varren's breath forced itself from his lungs as he let out an astonished wheeze, staring outside the screen. Since his mind was unable to comprehend the mere sight of an alternate universe, he took a few moments to stand in silence and let his eyes embrace it. "This entire time… We've been traveling through whole _plains of existence_, and I was clueless from the start."

Spirit mumbled under her breath, "Only because you never bothered to ask all the details."

Varren blushed deeply in embarrassment. He knew that she was true. The gentleman pulled his hat over his eyes , feeling disgraced. "You're right, Spirit. I honestly should have known better than to simply follow wherever the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN was taking me like a blind dog."

The black squirrel grinned slightly, amused by how ashamed Varren seemed to be over his failure. "Don't worry about it, V."

_Again with that nickname…_ Varren thought, again finding himself in a familiar state of confusion. But, slowly, a smile came across his face. While it's true that he was confused, he rather enjoyed the way it sounded when she called him 'V.' This combined with the idea of how kind Spirit was to him made her seem as if she was an entirely different person than she was when Varren had first met her. This gave him all the more reason to smile.

Then the gentleman shook his head. Varren had to stay on the topic at hand, and that was to resolve the misunderstanding between the captain, describe whose energy it was and why, provide answers to rid the confusion of existence in a peaceful manner, and absorb the newly gained fraction of his energy. Varren looked forward at the small, strange ship. "Alright, guide, take us to that ship. I'm assuming that's where my energy rests."

"While it's true that you're correct, and this _is_ the area in which your energy lies, I'm afraid that I cannot fulfill your request, master Varren," the guide bluntly stated.

The gentleman tilted his head, then stared up at the projector. "Why on earth not?"

"It is simply a matter of mass," the guide responded. "The ship is too small to contain the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's full capacity. Though it's a fact that this ship can shrink, it would crush the both of you to death. However, while it's true that I cannot teleport you two inside the ship, I am able to offer to you a bridge which you can then cross."

Spirit looked around the area for space suits that they could use to be able to breathe. When she found none, she looked at the projector as well. "How can we be able to leave the ship if we aren't provided with space suits?"

"Do not fear," the guide blankly responded. "There is large, invisible shield that will protect you from the vacuum of space and provide you with a substance in the surroundings which is highly related to oxygen. This done by releasing small amounts of energy from the ship's power source. You may exit safely at any time you see fit."

On that note, the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's door automatically slid open. A small, mechanical bridge was constructing itself just below the open area in the ship, providing a dock-like surface area. It latched onto the other ship with a _clunk_. Varren stared ahead at what was happening. He'd never seen anything _like_ this from the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN; it was all quite strange for the gentleman to see his ship benefit him in ways other than mere transportation. Perhaps he should ask the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN for help more often?

Spirit walked out of the ship with no hesitation, marching off on the mechanical dock.

Varren then stared at her, analyzing her traits through this action. The gentleman needed to be able to trust his comrades. He needed to figure out the personality of each person who came along his crew, if there was ever going to be another one like Spirit who simply wanted to come along with him.

It was easy for Varren to tell that Spirit was the kind of woman who thought less and acted more. She enjoyed action and adventure as Varren did. Unlike him, however, she didn't analyze what she was about to dive into before she acted. She simply went in head first with no concerns, no plans, no thoughts of her surroundings—just get in, get what was needed and get out.

At first, the thought that such a person was Varren's _partner _simply embarrassed him, but then he thought of how much time he would spend simply thinking about what he was going to do, or observing his surroundings. Even now, he was lost in thought, analyzing what little traits were provided to him through the actions that Spirit made. He stared at the black squirrel, smiling at her as she walked closer towards the neighboring ship. _Perhaps I _need _someone who doesn't think so much before acting_, Varren thought.

Spirit turned halfway around to glance at Varren. She sighed as she shook her head. "Are you coming or not?" she asked harshly.

Varren snapped out of his thought processes, smacking the side of his own head. "Right, yes, sorry about that, madam. Of course I'm coming," he replied. The gentleman stepped out of the ship at last, walking after Spirit, speeding up so he could pace himself right next to her.

As they continued to walk closer to the other ship, which was still quite far away, Varren began to feel a strange, yet quite familiar attraction coming from Spirit. The gentleman looked at her from the corner of his eye, examining her. _What on earth could be so appealing to me…? _he thought to himself. Suddenly, an object around her neck caught his eye. It was that necklace that she had when they'd first met. Spirit had never returned Varren's energy to him!

Varren glared at her momentarily, slightly irritated by the fact that she'd attempted once again to steal the energetic artifact from him, even though he'd given a thorough explanation as to how she was to use her _own_ energy, and why she couldn't use _this_ energy because of how foreign it was.

But the gentleman calmed himself. Instead of being cross with the fact that Spirit was still thieving from him, Varren thought of how it could be possible to use this behavior beneficially. He thought once again about her personality, and how this could be applied to what he'd already managed to gather. The fact that she hadn't returned his energy to him only further emphasized the impression that Spirit didn't think that much about her surroundings. At least, that's what the gentleman believed. Varren had done all that was in his power to prove to her that this artifact had no need to be stolen, and yet she stole it anyways for the sake of greed and satisfaction of having stolen something.

But, that was simply the illogical possibility. What if this sneaky squirrel was cleverer than Varren gave her credit for? Perhaps she stole it with the knowledge that they were going away from her home planet in _mind_, and the fact that they were traveling made her feel more secure because there wouldn't be any police to arrest her if she were to steal something from him? The second possibility seemed to be much more realistic to the gentleman than the first, more illogical one. _The conclusion, then_, Varren thought to himself, _is that she doesn't think so much about her surroundings in situations where she's simply walking around an area or engaging someone in combat, rather, her main focus of thought revolves around thievery._ Varren rolled his eyes, shaking his head as he let out a sigh of annoyance. _It just so happens that this thief is my comrade. She's going to make it difficult for me to be peaceful with other planets' populations if she's thieving around all the time. _(My, Varren, aren't you fickle today?)

Then the sudden attraction made itself known in the gentleman's mind once again; he remembered that Spirit still hadn't returned that artifact to him. Varren gently tapped the mischievous squirrel's shoulder with his finger. "Excuse me, ma'am, but I do believe that you have yet to give my energy back to me."

Spirit's ears flattened when she heard Varren's observation. The dark squirrel's tail flicked slightly as she took the necklace off. Before she handed the object over to Varren, there was a small pause in which she glared at him vengefully. "Right, sorry about that, V," she said with a forced, nonchalant tone in her voice. Preventing her bitterness from getting the best of her was proving itself to be a rather difficult task.

Varren took the necklace from her hand, then squeezed crystal tightly. A familiar power trailed off of the decoration, causing the gentleman's hand to glow a dark-blue outline as the magical components eased their ways into his energy stream. Varren smiled at Spirit, putting aside all the thoughts and conclusions that were in his mind only moments ago. "Don't worry about it, madam. We all forget things every now and then, especially when we're in the heat of doing something new. Sometimes there are events which seem very small and unimportant. These can be left behind and forgotten by the newer, 'larger' things in comparison."

Spirit stared at Varren before she tilted her head slightly. "You really do talk a lot," she observed.

The gentleman's eyes widened momentarily. Then he simply bowed his head, pulling his light-brown fedora over his eyes in embarrassment. "You're absolutely right about that, Spirit. I should probably work on being concise."

The female squirrel nodded her head in agreement. Then Varren heard Spirit come to a halt for some reason. In order to avoid looking any more senseless than he'd already made himself appear, Varren decided to stop as well. Spirit elbowed the gentleman's shoulder. "Hey, look," she ordered.

Varren lifted his hat from over his eyes, looking ahead of them to see that they were in front of the small, foreign ship at last.

Varren let out a sigh of relief. That was the longest, most thought-filled walk that he'd ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Varren turned around to look how far the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN appeared to be from this distance. Surprisingly, it didn't seem that far away.

Time always _did_ slow down for the gentleman whenever he was thinking. The deeper in thought Varren was, the more stimulated he became, and the more stimulation that he experienced, the slower time seemed to actually be.

Varren sighed, turning back to the new ship at hand. "Alright, this should be rather easy. We'll simply speak with these people and ask them if they've recently come across a strange, dark-blue energy of some sort, then we'll negotiate with them peacefully and retrieve it as usual so I may be able to absorb it."

Spirit sighed, but nodded her head in agreement with Varren's statement. "Right," she said. Spirit was actually quite jealous of Varren since he was the _only_ one to be able to absorb all of the energy that was collected, but she had to keep in mind what he had said when he'd encountered her. Spirit wouldn't be able to manipulate this energy, since she'd never been exposed to it before. The dark squirrel needed to contain herself. Besides, from when she'd looked into Varren's eyes at her home planet, she could tell that he didn't seem to be lying to her in an attempt to simply keep the energy for himself. He was interesting.

Interrupting her thoughts, Varren politely knocked on the entrance of the ship before adjusting his hat. He wanted to look tidy as his first impression, after all.

There was a long moment of silence. After thirty seconds of waiting had passed, Varren began to wonder if this ship was even _inhabited_. Suddenly, to put an abrupt end to the silence, the entrance opened up in front of them. The height of the door was about as tall as Varren was; the gentleman assumed that the people residing in this ship, 'Samus Aran' and 'Solid Snake,' as the guide of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN had addressed them, were most likely human-sized.

Varren turned to Spirit, looking at her questioningly.

Spirit simply shrugged as a response, just as unsure as he was.

Varren sighed nervously, slightly discouraged by Spirit's equal amount of uncertainty. Slowly, the gentleman walked into the ship, Spirit following right behind him.

Varren was about to look around the area so he could search for any signs of an object containing his familiar, dark-blue energy, but his gaze didn't have time come across so much as a single object. An invisible pair of arms ensnared Varren in a tight chokehold from behind. After two seconds of struggling against his unseen foe, a powerful shock of electricity surged throughout the gentleman's body. An instant later, he was released from the invisible man's grip, and collapsed numbly on the ground. To Varren, the area slowly began to fade away into blackness. He barely heard Spirit's cry of defiance in the background. Everything sounded as if the gentleman was underwater.

Varren could see a man wearing a gray jumpsuit of some kind appear from behind him to kick at Spirit. Thankfully, she dodged, then lunged at the man, claws unsheathed. The gray-clothed man grabbed Spirit by her shoulders, then threw her to the side. Spirit tumbled across the ground. Then a strange, high-pitched zipping sound echoed throughout the metallic room. A bolt of some sort of bright energy hit Spirit while she was down, rendering her unconscious, and electrified.

As the gentleman fought to stay awake, he saw the same man dressed in gray, along with a blonde-haired woman, wearing a blue version of what the man was wearing, both figures looming over him menacingly. Darkness closed in on Varren before he, too, slipped into a powerless state of unconsciousness.


	14. The Deal

Blackness was the element surrounding Varren. The gentleman felt as if he was floating in a sea of darkness. However, while it's true that it seemed as if he was floating, what he was floating _in_ didn't feel like liquid. It felt like rocks burying him, keeping him down on the ground. Varren couldn't protest against this feeling of restraint, nor could he move. Worst of all for him, as a man of pondering and inquiry, Varren could barely think.

Then the gentleman heard faint voices, one male and one female. "—dangerous?" he heard a male say. "—seem to be… any weapons. We can't be…"

Then the female responded. "—reacted with the… Take our…"

Slowly, the darkness around Varren began to fade away. There were three blobs: one in gray, one in blue, and a black one. Varren couldn't tell what the gray and blue blobs were, but he was able to make the assumption that the black one was his partner, Spirit. The other two were both standing in front of green lights.

Varren shook his head to try and clear his vision, then attempted to sit up. His body jerked, but something was keeping him restrained. Varren looked down at himself to see that there were brown straps around the entirety of his torso. He was utterly trapped, helpless to resist against whoever might have put him in this situation in the first place.

Varren examined his surroundings to try and find something he could use to escape this state of imprisonment. Slowly, his vision began to come together. He saw the gray-dressed male and the blue-dressed female antagonists that had rendered both him and Spirit unconscious. Speaking of the black squirrel, she was tied to a platform standing vertically. A black strip was used as a gag for the poor woman. Spirit was growling viciously, glaring at the both of the enemies with a fury that was so powerful that it frightened Varren to think about what might be going on in her mind at that moment

The two figures, though, were calmly ignoring her, talking with each other about an extremely confusing predicament.

"But they didn't have any weapons," the male said in a tone of protest. "and they didn't have any tech on them that could've been advanced enough to steal our stuff. There weren't any footprints in our energy source's breech aside from our own; there's no way that they could've stolen anything from us."

The blonde female sighed, then pointed at the green lights on a small screen. "Then explain why one of them had exactly the same energy as our energy source. Now we have to resort to emergency energy just so we can keep the ship's oxygen supply steady since this new guy's energy gives a negative reaction to our own!"

The male's gaze followed his partner's finger. "We can't know the answer to that one. Chances are that this sort of energy was the kind of energy he was born with. After all, the readings _do_ say that he's not human, however _human_ he might look. Plus, his energy rating is off the charts, much stronger than our power source. Logic points out that he couldn't have stolen it."

Varren stared at the man in gray, hoping that what he said would convince his partner to let them go. Then, after staring at this person, Varren finally noticed that kinder fellow had a goatee. _Is he trying to save us?_ thought the gentleman. _Perhaps these people aren't completely evil after all, if they're willing to acknowledge the fact that they've done something wrong and attempt to correct it…_

_But what does he mean when he says that I'm not human? _Varren thought to himself. _Unless I've absorbed so much of my energy that I'm no longer classified as human. Wait, if that were the case, then this would mean that, originally, I was something inhuman. But that can't be true. Can it? These people… maybe they can tell me what I am._

For a moment, Varren simply stared at the both of them, hesitant about whether or not it was safe to make any moves. Then, slowly, he cleared his throat to address them. "Excuse me, do you mind if I speak to you?"

The male figure immediately turned his gaze at Varren, and Spirit looked at Varren as well, the look in her eyes undefinable to him. The blonde female instinctively pulled out a small gun and pointed it at the gentleman.

Varren flinched at the gun, but tried his best to remain calm. "I-I've heard what you have said about your generator," he stuttered. "I'm sorry that my presence has caused your energy source to act strangely, but I can assure you that I meant no harm, and neither did my partner."

Spirit restrained herself from mumbling something sour underneath her gag. Oh, she _meant_ harm, alright, and lots of it.

Varren continued on as calmly as the leader of some corporation would while explaining the details of the ratings of their business, "If there's anything I can do to prove to you that I'm a true gentleman, then I will gladly do so."

The blonde stared at Varren, uncertain whether to shoot him now, or to give him the chance he wanted. While it's true that she could see an honest look in the gentleman's eyes, she'd seen those looks faked too many times in the past to let that sway her decisions now.

Then the male in gray put his hand on the woman's shoulder and whispered something into her ear. The female glanced down at the ground afterwards, her expression deep in thought. Hesitantly, she lowered her gun. "Fine," she said harshly. "I'll believe you for now… but don't think for a second that you've earned my trust."

The male slowly walked closer to Varren before being the second one to speak to him. "I'm guessing when you say that you'll 'prove to us that you're a true gentleman,' you mean that you're gonna strike a bargain with us?"

Varren nodded at them, seeing that he'd gotten them to listen. He wasn't sure what the male had whispered to the female, but he was glad that he'd said what he did. The gentleman smiled friendlily at the both of them, hoping to increase the amount of trust there was. "Yes, that's right. I would be more than willing to help you out with your generator problem, if you would like me to. Since it's my presence that seems to have caused this catastrophe in the first place, _I_ should be the person to fix it for the both of you. It's only fair, wouldn't you say?"

The blonde rearmed her gun at Varren as she glared at him coldly, her belief quickly replacing itself with the original emotion of skepticism and distrust. "This guy reeks of lies, Snake. It's obvious that he's trying to trick us into giving him what he came here for; we should shoot him now."

Realization struck Varren; he completely ignored the gun that was being pointed at him and strained his eyes to stare at Snake from where the gentleman was being held down by the brown straps.

_So, is this the man that the guide told us about, the one working in the same organization with Samus Aran? _he thought as he turned his gaze to the blonde woman. _If this is the case, then the chances of this woman being who I think she is are shockingly high. Strange, I would've thought that the name 'Samus' would fit better with a male._

While Varren was still ensnared by the brown straps, Samus aimed her gun directly at the bridge of his nose, ready to blow the thing off his face with a single, careful shot. Her finger wrapped around the trigger, as if it had seemed natural for it to kill.

Snake put his hand in front of the woman protectively, guarding Varren more than he was guarding the blonde. "Easy, easy… I've got a plan of my own. Don't worry." Slowly, Snake lowered his hand. "Alright, sir, we'll take you up on that offer."

Samus glared at Snake. "What the _fuck_ are you thinking?" she angrily whispered.

Snake noticed Samus's anger. The gray-clothed man could tell that her anger was directed at him for being too lenient about everything. It was true that Snake needed to take this more seriously. And so he did. A glare spread across Snake's face as he added, "But we won't let you leave this ship until it's up and running again. There are hidden security cameras everywhere; if you try to make any funny moves, we'll know about it. The only reason why I'm choosing to spare you and let you get _near_ the energy source is because of a little voice in the back of my head that tells me you're a good person. If I find out that my conscience is wrong, and you end up trying to steal our energy from us, I sure as hell won't hesitate to end your life."

At this point, the gentleman was completely at a loss as to how he could get the fraction of his energy from these people. He knew that trying to fight them would be a completely different experience since they seemed to excel in gunmanship. Taking into consideration how it would be a foreign style of combat to the gentleman, he might not come out of this hypothetical battle with his life intact. Therefore, getting his energy from them would take stealth. But if what Snake had said was true, then all the stealth in the world wouldn't be able to help them since they would constantly have the eyes of the hidden security cameras watching them. The only way to find privacy would be to somehow disarm the cameras.

But a very important question came into his mind: _Do I want to take my energy from these people in the first place?_ Snake had made it sound like he and Samus were using his energy as some sort of life force. Since this was the case, Varren would be killing them by reclaiming his energy from these people.

The gentleman didn't want to take the lives of any good people, and these two didn't seem to be villainous at all, rather one of them was simply cautious, and understandably so, at that. The only humble option that was given to him at this point was to go throughout the deal that he had made with them.

Varren glanced over at Spirit, who was wriggling around in the brown straps quietly. He couldn't tell if she was observing the situation more than anything or if she trying to make a stealthy retreat back to the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN. Keeping his eyes on Snake and Samus, the gentleman smiled politely at the two. "I give you both my word that I will fulfill all of your expectations. But I won't go without my comrade."

Spirit stopped struggling long enough to glance at Varren upon him mentioning her. She stared at the gentleman with interest, seeing how he wasn't willing to leave her behind to complete his greater goals. Then the black, humanoid squirrel narrowed her eyes, uncertain whether or not to assume that this idea was the actuality of the situation.

The two supposed owners of the ship, though, hadn't noticed Spirit's stares. Snake and Samus both looked at each other thoughtfully, each gaze equally searching the other's for answers. There was a long moment of pause in which the two seemed to share a deep, psychological conversation about the proposition that Varren had made, whether or not they would free the both of them and put their trust in the newcomers, or just let _one_ of them go to maintain overall safety in case this was somehow a trick.

Then Snake gave Samus a nod of approval. The cold blonde let out a sigh, deciding to agree to the conclusion, as if it had been universally understood. She walked over to the small projector's green, dimly glowing light, and pressed her finger on its screen. There was a begrudging tone in her voice as she said, "Fine, we'll release both of you…"

Both of the straps retracted from Varren and Spirit. Varren sat up, stretching his arms out. Spirit, however, fell down from her platform, though putting her hands on the floor stopped her face from crashing into it. She stood up, mumbling in annoyance. "You two will pay for what you've done later on, vlakaak…"

The gentleman quickly hopped down from where he was lying and walked over to Spirit. He hadn't heard the word 'vlakaak' before, but he could tell by the tone in which Spirit mumbled that it was meant to be some sort of foreign insult. "Come now, Spirit," he quietly advised her, "there's no need to be bitter with these people. Let's just fix their energy source and leave."

Spirit hissed angrily, though she spoke to Varren with an equally quiet tone. "If we're not even going to get another fraction of _your_ energy, then I don't see any point in being here in the first place…! This is a waste of time. Let's leave and be done with it…!"

Varren sighed briefly. While it's true he was annoyed with Spirit for being uncooperative with him, he could understand why she wouldn't want to agree with the new objective. After all, she _was_ a woman of action. She always wanted to get the important things done, and get them done quickly.

"Listen, madam," Varren whispered to her, "I understand how you feel, truly I do, but we've already made a deal with these people. We can't leave them after doing that, now can we?"

"Correction: _You_ made a deal with them," the humanoid squirrel whispered back exasperatedly. "After knocking me out, then gagging me after I was conscious again, I'm not going to be doing anything for them unless there's something in it for me…!"

Varren stared at his comrade, unsure whether to be cross with her for being so selfish, or to attempt to sympathize with where she was coming from. Either way, Varren still had to think of a way bribe Spirit into cooperation. Since he did, in fact, have a partner now, the gentleman wanted to have backup in most—if not all—dangerous situations.

Then the gentleman remembered why she'd chosen to follow him in the first place: to learn how to get stronger. Following this act of remembrance was another memory of what he had explained to Spirit when they were dancing back at her home planet. Varren gave himself an internal pat on the back for not only remembering these things, but applying them properly as well.

The gentleman whispered to his comrade. "Do you remember the flow of energy that I was talking about, and how to control it? Examining their energy source will be the physical example that I promised to give to you. Perhaps we could spar in order to further demonstrate this later on?"

Spirit paused, suddenly going from feeling irritated—since they were straying off course of their main objective—to feeling intrigued by the fact that she might gain something out of this after all. She slowly nodded. "Fine…" she said. Her voice was at a relatively normal volume, which indicated to Varren that she was done with this conversation.

Varren sighed in relief, then turned his gaze at Samus and Snake, who seemed to have been staring at him the entire time he was persuading Spirit. The gentleman cleared his throat, then smiled at the two. "Would you mind directing us to the room in which your power source resides?" he politely inquired.

Snake nodded, and then pulled out a small, box-shaped remote with a button on it. After pressing his thumb against the button, a hole that was about as wide as Varren was formed in the floor. The goateed man pointed at the hole. "It's down there. Don't worry, there's a ladder to get to it; you don't have to make a long drop."

Varren returned Snake's nod with one of his own, but this time it was more out of gratefulness than polite behavior. The gentleman stuck one of his legs in the hole, then grabbed onto the ladder, sticking his other leg down. As he started to climb down, he said, "Come, Spirit, let's go and see what's wrong with their energy source."

Though she didn't show it, she was quite curious to see what explanations Varren could give her based off of this energy source, and equally interested in what the gentleman had said about sparring with her. Spirit followed behind Varren.

Snake pressed the button on his remote a second time to close the door behind Varren and his partner. The male shook his head. "I seriously hope I didn't screw things up there. I usually let Otacon make tough decisions like that for me."

"Obviously," Samus said snidely.

Snake chuckled at Samus's remark. "Be careful. I wouldn't want to strangle you in your sleep."

Samus grinned, and then playfully pointed her gun at him. "I can take you down, tough guy."

**With Varren and Spirit…**

Down, down, down they went. There were small, gray pipes on the sides of the walls. Multiple lights varying between the red and green colors blinked. Most of the lights blinked red. Varren could only assume this was because of the comatose state the energy source of the ship seemed to be in.

Varren looked down to see that they were almost at the bottom of the ladder. Not only that, but there were blue lights lighting the area. The gentleman put his feet down on the ground, and stepped out of the way to let Spirit do the same.

When Spirit's feet touched the ground, she looked ahead of them to see that there was a hallway, and at the end of it was a metal door. The black-furred squirrel let out a sigh. "Alright, let's get this over with."

Varren gazed at his partner with a look of concern for a moment, unsure as to how to react to Spirit's 'enthusiasm,' or rather lack thereof. Physically, he began to walk towards the door, but as for his mental state, he wasn't worried about being trapped on someone else's ship, rather his thoughts were elsewhere. Varren began to ponder how he should let these emotions of concern affect his behavior.

Going out on a social whim, Varren spoke to her about the emotions he processed. "If I'm honest with you, Spirit, your lack of willingness fills me with worry and doubtfulness. Try to be more enthusiastic about the task at hand, if it's not too much trouble."

Spirit walked beside Varren. "Enthusiastic!" she echoed, her voice tainted with annoyance. "Tsk, you said it yourself, it's a _task_. I can't be enthusiastic about doing chores."

Varren looked up at the ceiling, continuing to walk down the blue-lit hallway. "Perhaps I used the wrong adjective in this situation. It would be more accurate if I were to say that I would appreciate it if you were more _cooperative_ when doing these sorts of things. I understand, mind you, that they probably aren't very appealing to you, but at least be tolerant so that way we can get things done and move on."

"I've _been_ doing that, Varren," she retorted. "The only reasons why I'm coming down here are because of my tolerance of everything else and my interest in that 'physical demonstration' you were talking so much about at my home planet."

Slowly, Varren's pace in walking began to ease down to a halt, his eyes widening in realization.

Spirit slowly began to stop along with him, gazing at him curiously. She her head tilted to the side.

Varren turned his head to face Spirit, revealing an expression that combined both astonishment and regret. The gentleman opened his mouth, but for a moment, there was nothing to come out of it. He looked down momentarily in shame for an unknown reason, then looked back to meet Spirit's still-curious gaze. "I can't believe that I had overlooked the possibility that you were already being tolerant of the situation. If this is the case, then I can only assume that you have been tolerant, as _you've_ said, for quite the long time. The embarrassment of being unable to realize how annoyed you were—or are—with things, combined with the fact that I've been analyzing you quite often lately to better understand your personality, makes me think that I am truly foolish with society. I am an improper gentleman."

Varren took off his hat and placed it on his chest, giving a polite, apologetic bow to Spirit. "I am an incredibly idiotic man, madam. You must excuse my ignorance. I promise you that I will do all that's in my power to make sure that this sort of thing will most certainly never happen again. If you find that something is growing intolerable, be sure to let me know, and I will handle the problem immediately. Please, forgive me."

Spirit had no idea how to respond to such polite behavior. _He really _does _talk a lot_, she thought to herself. For a moment, the human-squirrel only stared at Varren in uncertainty before she slowly replied to him, "It's… okay, Varren."

The gentleman smiled, feeling as if he'd been relieved from a small burden. Varren put his beige fedora back on top of his head, adjusting it quickly. "I'm glad that you'd say that, Spirit. Truly, to have your forgiveness is quite reassuring. If there's anything that I can do for you in return, please, let me know."

At first, there were even _more_ confusing experiences piled up against Spirit's mind. She wasn't used to someone being so kind to her, just as she wasn't used to being so _polite_. It all seemed too foreign to understand. But, even if this was true, when Spirit relooked things… she enjoyed being treated nicely for a change. For quite some time now, she'd lived in a world in which everyone had hated her. To take a break away from that hatred, and put kindness and gentlemanly behavior in its place, gave her quite a refreshing feeling. But the black-furred humanoid didn't show it. She simply waved her hand slightly, as if shooing she was the topic away. "I know, I know," she told him.

Varren nodded, recognizing the fact that the topic had been dismissed, and moved on from it in his mind. The gentleman looked ahead of the hallway to see that there was a metal door near them with a handle that reminded him of a steering wheel off of a pirate's ship. He had no idea what they were called, but he was pretty certain he knew how to open them.

Varren pointed at the door momentarily. "Come now, Spirit, let's get going. Almost there."

Just as the gentleman was going to lead the way to the door, the space ship they were on suddenly shook violently, and the dim, blue lights that remained began to flicker, on the verge of losing all power. Animalistic, high-pitched screeching could be heard from the floor above. "What the devil is…?"

Spirit turned to the direction of the noise, then smiled, thrilled by the sounds of monstrous combat. She began to run from whence they came without giving any warning to Varren. "C'mon, V, let's go and check it out!"

Varren knew that she was being careless, and he simply couldn't allow that. Quickly, the gentleman grabbed a hold of Spirit's arm, holding her tightly in place. "No, you don't! I can't allow you to go charging head-first into these situations without a legitimate plan fir-"

A loud _pun!_ sound interrupted him. Not long afterwards, the hatch that had provided them access into this room fell from over the ladder. Then an extremely tall, disturbing figure came falling down to follow it. Its skin looked more like the exoskeleton of an insect than anything. It was wearing two tall, green shoulder pads. Extending from these pads was a small amount of armor meant for covering only the arms. On its right arm, there was a laser cannon attached to its armor. On its left, there was a strange object attached to the elbow of its armor. It appeared to be a yellow, upside down blade, or something to that affect. Its hands had only three 'fingers,' one massive claw of a forefinger along with pincers in the place of where a human's thumb would be. It was also wearing lower body armor that started from the waist, and covered bits of pieces of its legs, which were coated in several large sensory hairs, or so Varren assumed. Its feet had two massive claws for 'toes,' and its eyes were the color of flames. It had deadly, spikey teeth.

However, Varren could see some flaw in the design of the monstrous, yet obviously trained warrior: Its torso was strong, durable-looking and muscular, but its center appeared to be small, frail, and thin. The gentleman had already found his enemy's weak point, and the battle hadn't even begun yet.

But there was no time for celebration. The monster of an insect let out a deafening, high-pitched screech, then ran towards Spirit and Varren. The gentleman unsheathed his sword, analyzing each step the figure took. Despite its appearance, Varren could easily gather by its run that this creature had been professionally trained, which would mean that using the friction against him would be out of the question.

However, before he could reach any conclusions in his thought pattern, Spirit charged head-first at the creature. Varren blinked, concerned of how little thought she seemed to put into her fighting plans since she simply ran at the thing without even knowing that much about it.

The massive creature screeched again, and pointed its gun at Spirit. The gun began to blaze up with red energy. The humanoid squirrel flipped around vertically to kick the creature's gun off course. While its attack was still preparing itself, though, Spirit leaped up and wrapped her tail and legs around the creature's torso, grabbed its deadly weapon with both her hands, and twisted its arm to where the gun's opening was pointed uncomfortably at the creature's neck. When the energy was released, however, the power behind it was strong enough to force Spirit's arms out of position from its neck; rather than hitting the area intended, a flurry of red lasers plowed against the creature's exposed, upper torso.

It did not bleed. The monster's torso simply fell off of its body, and then vanished when it made contact with the ground, as if it were ash.

Spirit jumped backwards to land next to Varren. As she did so, the creature fell to the ground at last. The problem had been addressed and taken care of, much quicker than Varren could have managed to do it. The gentleman stared at her in astonishment. He was completely amazed that she was able to fight as skillfully as she did. Never before had he ever seen anything like it! All Varren could say was, "Good gracious…"

Spirit grinned at Varren mischievously, slightly amused by how impressed with her he seemed to be. "What's the matter? Have you never seen a _real_ fighter at work?"

"Well, I have," Varren earnestly replied, "but I've never seen someone who engages someone in combat in a manner that's so—" the gentleman paused, unsure of the word he was looking for. "—brutal."

Spirit chuckled, now obviously amused. "Let it be a lesson to never get on my bad side," she playfully warned him as she walked over to the door up ahead. The dark-furred squirrel grabbed hold of the handle. She grunted with effort as she turned it to the left. The handle squeaked as it turned slightly through each great amount of force that Spirit put forth into opening the door. _Squeeeak. Squeeeick. Squeeeak._

Varren didn't know whether to do the honorable thing and help her, or to let her have her moment of pride and allow her to go through all of the force required to open the door. But his confusion didn't last for long. With one, final heave, Spirit felt the door unlock.

Just as Spirit was about to push open the door, Varren tapped her shoulder. She turned around, staring at him curiously. As a response to her wondering gaze, the courteous man put an arm in between Spirit and the door, then pressed this arm against the door, pushing it open.

Varren couldn't let a woman go through all of the trouble of opening the door all by herself, after all, especially after this particular woman had singlehandedly defeated a beast of legend. It simply wasn't the gentlemanly thing to do.

He smiled at her friendlily. "Ladies first, or so they say."

"Thank you," Spirit said plainly, though, internally, she smiled.

The dark-furred squirrel walked into the room, and Varren followed directly behind her. When the gentleman stepped into the room, what he saw caught him completely off guard. It was a massive, white sphere. "My, what are you?" he mumbled to himself, walking over to the gargantuan orb, though he made sure to examine it all the while.

Spirit, meanwhile, looked around for any loose wires, any unplugged outlets—anything to her knowledge that would indicate that this machinery wasn't being used as well as it could be. Though, she didn't know that much about technology. She'd never studied in that sort of specialty.

Varren tilted his head to the side, getting closer to the massive, white orb. "Curious one, aren't you?" he said, almost as if he was talking to the object. Slowly, he placed his hand on the humongous sphere.

Directly after Varren's hand made contact with the object, there was a burst of electricity. The gentleman's hand instinctively recoiled, just barely dodging a small electric field. Then the field of electricity began to spread around the entirety of the orb, until the whole thing was engulfed in a small layer of electricity. Unfortunately for Varren, the electric field began to expand outwards, letting that small layer of electricity turn into something impenetrable.

Spirit's gaze was immediately upon Varren's situation. Though she had no idea whether she wanted to help him or not. For a few seconds, she simply stood there, thinking of what she wanted to do. Varren had technically saved _her_ once, though. He'd done so by convincing Snake and Samus to let her be free. Had he not done that, she would still be within their grasp.

The gentleman clumsily walked backwards, trying to avoid being electrocuted by the ever-expanding, powerful force. Varren stumbled back-first towards the ground, closing his eyes tight. He didn't want to see what it would look like to suffer inside the forceful wave of electrical power. "Spirit, I'm in need of your assistance!"

Whatever Spirit wanted to do, she needed to come up with a decision _now_. "Oh, screw it!" she shouted, using her squirrel-like speed to reach Varren in time. She wrapped an arm around him and quickly jumped forwards, safely guiding him out of harm's way.

Varren could feel Spirit rest him against the wall. "Are you okay?" she asked.

The gentleman slowly opened his eyes, examining the situation. Spirit was in front of him, rather than the darkness that his death would have been as the result of the terrifying pulse of electricity. "Y-Yes," he answered, his voice shaken by the overall fear. "I'm fine."

Though, when Varren examined Spirit's facial expression, she didn't seem to be as 'fine,' as he was. There was a shocked look, one that showed that she was genuinely concerned. The gentleman didn't want to admit it to himself, but he never thought that he would see the day in which someone such as Spirit would wear that look of worry for someone else on her face.

Varren smiled at her reassuringly. "I'm okay," he told her.

Spirit sighed in relief, then stood up. She turned her gaze over to the gargantuan electrical sphere. "Was this big thing worth all that, then?"

Varren stood up as well, brushing dust off of his already-torn, beige suit. He adjusted his hat, then followed Spirit's gaze to stare at the massive ball coated with electricity. There was a constant, low-pitched hum from its powerful energy, lines and bolts of sudden bursts of its power treading across the orb every now and then.

The gentleman could feel a strange sensation radiating from the gargantuan ball. "I… can't help but feel attracted to it for some reason or another."

"I'm not saving you again, if that's what you want me to do," Spirit warned him.

Varren shook his head, letting the tips of his forefinger and middle finger rest against his lower lip. "No, no, that's not the idea that I'm trying to communicate in this situation. What I intend to express is the fact that I always get attracted to fragments of my energy whenever I'm near one. However, the elements to which I'm attracted are always physical. Only one time have they ever been energetic, and that was when…" Varren's eyes widened as he inhaled deeply, gasping in realization.

Spirit raised an eyebrow. "Well, what have you figured out?"

Varren began to pace back and forth. "The only exception was with that battle involving Demon Lord Ghirahim, who I cast away! I haven't seen him in a while now, thankfully, but that's not the idea of concern. The main focus here revolves around his minions! There were minions of his that had managed to become so powerful that it somehow manifested itself into the form of a robot, and another one had done the same, except it took the form of some strange figure. The figure was the one that I was unable to sense back at a different world that I'd traveled to, and for quite a while now, I've been pondering as to why it remained undetected, but now _this_gives me an explanation! As I've just said, this giant ball of electrical power attracts me, just as all other fractions of my energy would. But this _isn't_ what we think it is! This _isn't_ a fragment of my energy!"

Spirit tilted her side, completely confused. "So then why did the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN mistake this as a part of your energy if it wasn't? Your ship is supposed to be omniscient, is it not?"

Varren waved his hand forward. "Oh, that means nothing, it's not legitimately omniscient. No mortal thing is omniscient. My ship is about as close to omniscience as one can get, not omniscience within itself. But that doesn't matter! What does matter is that this—_giant ball of power_ is attracted to me, just as I am naturally attracted to it, hence why it reacted as lively as it did when my hand made contact with it! But the weird creature, the one that wasn't a robot, it had this electricity! It had the ability to generate lightning-like attacks from in between its massive antennas! And lightning, my dear Spirit, is electricity! Since that creature was an incarnation of my energy, the lightning, when _combined_ with the energy that I'm naturally attracted to, somehow manages to cancel out that attraction!" Varren clapped his hands together in a proud excitement for piecing things together. "It all makes sense now!"

"Well, that's nice and all," Spirit said, "but you still owe me a sparring match."


	15. Foolish

Varren examined his reflection in the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's windshield to admire his newly-repaired, brown suit, happily acknowledging how there were no longer any cuts or tears in them, nor any wrinkles. It was the nice, smooth and elegant piece of clothing that he'd intended it to be. "It was very polite of them to—oh, how did they put it—'regenerate' my clothing for me. I'm sure that I would've wanted to reward them, too, if they had fixed _my_ ship."

Spirit sighed in complaint. "Yes, but what _I_ didn't like is how they took out the rest of those 'Space Pirates' upstairs. I wanted to take them all out myself. On top of that, you're supposedly all-knowing CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN made a _mistake_, so we didn't get to find another fragment of your energy."

Varren turned away from his reflection as he pointed at Spirit to address her. "Ah, yes, both things are true, Spirit, but there are also bright sides to these situations. For example, we've discovered that my energy has some attractions with electricity; therefore it can be assumed that I may be able to manipulate this element to my whim. And, as for you, I do believe that had a sparring match afterwards."

Spirit paused for a moment, unsure as to how to counter what Varren had told her. Then the black-furred squirrel sighed once again before sitting down in one of the chairs. "I guess you have a point," she mumbled.

Varren grinned momentarily before turning his gaze to the projector up ahead. "Guide, if you could be so kind, please transport us to the next planet in which my energy resides."

The female program spoke in its usual, monotone voice. "Yes, master Varren."

In an instant, a wormhole opened up in front of the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN before the black saucer zoomed through it, guiding Varren and his companion to yet another unknown destination.

**Elsewhere…**

Red eyes excitedly widened. A comfortingly familiar feeling swept over him. The area was dimly lit, as it usually was. The purple dots scattered across his pitch black mask and streams around the eyes of it, as well as the sickening smile that was painted on, all seemed to give an eerie glow in the darkness.

The black-cloaked figure's pale, clawed hand casually held his wine glass as he swished the red liquids from side to side. "My, my, my…" he said to himself. "What do we have here...?" He sounded a bit high-pitched and gentle, yet the feeling behind it was cold, and bloodthirsty.

A young, blonde-haired teenager flinched at the sound of the figure's voice. "W-What is it, Lord Phantom?" she asked him.

Phantom couldn't help but let out a soft laugh to himself at how timid his newest, yet favorite servant seemed to be. The figure lifted up his mask slightly and took a swig of the red liquid in his glass. Phantom put his mask back down as he put the drink on the arm of his throne. "My dear, calm yourself… I can assure you that there's nothing wrong… In fact, I would have to say that it's quite the opposite. I seem to have picked up a very powerful energy signature…"

Phantom swished his drink around once again, resting the masked cheek on his fist. "Katie, be a good girl, would you…? Go and bring that energy to me… If someone tries to stop you from doing so, kill them. Don't give them any time to explain…"

The young girl's expression shifted from fearful to grim. All the same, she bowed politely. "Yes, Lord Phantom."

Phantom watched as Katie opened the wooden door on his left and made her way down the stairs. The pale figure licked his lips from behind his red mask, red eyes shining with desire. "Finally, something new happens… It's been so long since anything exciting has ever taken place, especially after I'd conquered this miserable planet…"

**With Varren and Spirit…**

The CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN came to an abrupt halt, the wormhole closing directly behind them. Varren smiled as his gaze turned to the projector above the windshield. "Alright, guide," said the gentleman, "if you could explain to us as to where we are as you usually do, I would be grateful."

A light-blue, see-through hologram of a woman wearing white appeared in front of Varren, staring at the gentleman blankly. "Yes, master Varren," it said. "The history of this planet is what I believe you would find to be quite disturbing. The name of this world is currently undetermined, as it's still in debate with the politicians, but it used to be planet Earth."

Varren's eyes widened. He stared at the guide, with a completely dumbfounded look in his eyes. "M-My home?" the gentleman stammered.

"While it's true that this is technically your home," the guide answered, "this isn't the planet _you_ were born in, rather an alternate universe of it. This version of planet Earth was quite a disturbed one, as there was too much research put into the chemicals of things, rather than put travel, as you would find on your home. The more these chemicals were used, the more you could easily find unnatural, hazardous creatures.

"You see," she went on, "these chemicals were only found in their natural liquefied state, which happened to be highly concentrated amounts of a splicing substance, which they now call 'phantose.' This phantose was used for experiments on rodents and animals, when it was first discovered, and even years after the discovery of this substance, phantose was still used for only the most minor experiments."

Varren tilted his head as he stared at the guide. "So then, I assume that this world eventually destroyed itself due to the fact that, one day, this phantose got out of control?"

The guide gave off a weak, pathetic smile to Varren. "You're quick to piece things together, I see. Yes, master Varren, you have the general idea, but it's much more complex than that. Phantose never got out of control. To this day, it's still quite carefully handled.

"However, back before the world was 'destroyed,' as you said, there was a masked criminal on the loose. This man was one of the worst criminals imaginable. He had singlehandedly lit cities on fire, tricked everyone from the police to the military with hidden bombs and the suchlike, and still managed to go on murderous rampages with almost nobody to stop him. The keyword in the last segment of that sentence, though, is 'almost.' The police _did_ catch up with this demented human, and they intended to put him to justice.

"Unfortunately for them, though, they asked the criminal if he had any last requests. They did this because of tradition. It's what the people involved with the law always did for those who needed to be sentenced to death, no matter how cruel they might have been in life. The criminal said that he did have one request left before he died, but, ironically, the request in itself revolved around _how_ it is he wanted to be killed. He said he wanted to be put to death in the most gruesome manner possible. And so those who captured him did the worst thing that they could think of doing to another human being: They dumped the criminal in a massive container that was filled to the brim with phantose.

"The mutations affected not only the criminal's body, constantly morphing and infusing him with one thing after the next, but his mind was also damaged. During the process of the mutation, the criminal lost his mind. He couldn't see like he normally could, nor could he feel, nor smell, nor walk."

Varren trembled internally, obviously disturbed. Still, though, the gentleman kept his mind on the original topic at hand. "So, then, I'm going to assume that this criminal somehow survived the mutations that he was put through. He was somehow contagious, and as he spread the mutations like a vampire would, the world began to fall into pieces, correct?"

"I'm afraid not, master Varren," the guide responded. "If you will let me finish, this man singlehandedly slaughtered all those who mutated him without a weapon to his name. This criminal, before going out, put on his usual mask, as well as a dark cloak that he found while leaving the building. As time progressed, this man slowly began to rise from the ashes, causing random bursts of mayhem throughout the streets in fits of madness. Strangely, though, a few other mentally tormented people began to help him in his quest.

"There was an emotional awareness within the masked figure's conscience afterwards. He'd begun to regain his sanity when people had teamed up with him, despite the fact that they hadn't known his name, nor seen his face. It was then that he realized that he wanted to conquer the world, rather than burn it as a way to wreak his vengeance. As his popularity grew, the man was given a nickname by the common public: Phantom.

"After conquering another state and burning the opposing military to the ground, Phantom found something curiously delightful within the ashes. It was the fragment of your energy, Varren. Phantom used this power to grant himself the power of agelessness, so that way he could remain the emperor of his planet for all eternity.

"With this temporary immortality to strengthen his ego, Phantom then took over the world with a large amount of time, pain, dedication and minions."

Spirit stared at the projection, unsure what to make of the story behind this planet that'd just been told. The dark squirrel's mind seemed to be used to these kinds of behaviors, but for some reason or another, this story put an unpleasant combination of intimidation and repulsiveness in her stomach.

Varren shook his head in disappointment. _My, such a tragic tale_, thought the gentleman. It really was a shame to see his home planet in ruins, even if this was simply an alternate universe of it. However Varren knew that there was hope for this world; a smile came to his face. "I suppose that means that it's a good thing that we're here, don't you agree?" he asked his companion.

Spirit nodded, though a growl rumbled in her throat. "Indeed it is. I can't wait to give this 'Phantom' guy what's coming to him."

Varren couldn't help but chuckle at Spirit's response. While it's true that he knew this behavior wasn't exactly something that was considered to be morally healthy, he couldn't help but find it entertaining to hear it coming from her.

The gentleman looked at the projection. "Alright, guide, please open the doors so we may be on our way."

Obeying the orders given, the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's door slid open as the monotone, female voice responded to him, "Yes, master Varren."

Varren and Spirit then walked out of their ship, into the area. They found themselves in a dark, morbid-looking city. There were graffiti drawings of bloodstains on some of the houses' walls (Varren hoped they were merely drawings, anyway) which formed together to spell out a bloody letter P. The gentleman could only assume that this letter P stood for 'Phantom.'

Spirit examined the area along with Varren. There seemed to be nothing of importance; there weren't any artifacts anywhere, nor were there any buildings which looked like they might be corporations. All that was there were multiple, seemingly identical homes. When it came to objects of importance, this place was a wasteland.

The black-furred squirrel shook her head, unwilling to tolerate the disappointment of this fact. She simply didn't want to think about the idea that they came here for no apparent reason. Moving her mind away from that topic, Spirit turned her gaze towards Varren to see that he was still staring off into the area, taking in all the information that was there to be taken in. She nudged the gentleman's shoulder. "Hey, Varren," called the squirrel.

Varren slowly turned his gaze from the wreckage to his partner, his eyes still filled with a curious, examining look. "Yes, what is it, Spirit?"

Spirit gestured her arm out to the area. "You're the only one who knows where your energy is, you know. You have to lead."

Varren chuckled at Spirit's attitude once again, then nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, yes, you're quite right about that. Come, let's see what there is to explore here. If we can't find anything, then we'll simply move on."

And so, Varren began to walk down the deserted road, and then Spirit followed from behind, moving a bit faster to walk next to the gentleman. Varren searched the area's right side, and Spirit scanned her eyes across the left. Varren could see there were broken vehicles crashed on the side of the road. Some of them were even in what appeared to be a backyard. The gentleman noticed that there were large, written messages on walls, communicated with what he again hoped was red paint. It said, 'DEAD CAUSE.'

What Spirit saw wasn't much different from what Varren had examined. The only difference between her view and his was the lack of a car. In its place were broken pieces of buildings. This place seemed to be in complete and utter ruins. The dark squirrel let out a sigh. "I can't see anything important."

Varren, though still thoroughly casting an eye over the area, simply had to empathize with Spirit's progress. "I would honestly be lying to you if I were to say that I was doing any better than you were, Spirit. There's simply nothing to be _seen_ in this part of the planet."

Spirit looked around where Varren was looking momentarily, then to the gentleman himself. "Should we look somewhere else, then?"

Varren let out a sigh of his own as he looked directly ahead of the both of them. Just as the gentleman was about to state his agreement with Spirit's idea, something in the direction he happened to be looking at caught his eye. It seemed as if there was a humanoid figure in the background. The gentleman pointed at the figure. "Spirit, I think we've got ourselves a meaningful figure."

Spirit squinted, straining her eyes to see the far away human. The exact image of what this figure looked like was nearly impossible to tell from this distance. All the dark squirrel could see was that the figure seemed to have its arm lifted, as if it was pointing at them. "It might be gesturing at us with its arm."

Varren blinked, utterly confused at first. Why on earth would someone gesture at them if there was nobody to gesture at them _to_? It didn't seem to make any sense. Varren closed his eyes as he let his mind flow. _The chances are that this person doesn't talk to him or herself, therefore he or she would have no reason to gesture at us while talking to him or herself. But what if this person wasn't gesturing? If _that's_ the case, then…_

Varren's eyes widened as a terrifying realization flashed into his mind. "Duck," he told his companion.

Spirit tilted her head, confused. "What?"

Varren quickly grabbed Spirit's hand as he threw himself to the ground, knowing that the two of them had no more time left to act. Immediately after he did so, there was a loud _pow!_ to echo through the air. To his surprise, though, there was a soft thudding sound coming from _behind_ them.

While Spirit's gaze never left the figure from far away, as she expected it to shoot at them again, Varren's eyes scanned across the area behind them. There was a newly killed, male body on the ground, his shirt coated with an increasingly large, red liquid.

Spirit then nudged at Varren. "Hey, V," she called him, "I think that he's—" the black squirrel paused for a moment in an uncertain hesitation, "—waving at us."

Varren tilted his head to the side, frowning in confusion before turning his gaze back towards the figure off in the distance. It did, indeed, _look_ like it was waving at them, but whether or not this friendliness was the reality of the situation was an entirely different story.

The gentleman quickly tried to come up with a reason why the person who shot at them would be the same person to express kindness towards them in less than an instant. Maybe the figure had only shot the bullet in the first place to take out the stealthy man that had managed to sneak behind him and Spirit, in which case this stranger might not be such a bad person after all.

Hesitantly, Varren began to wave back at the figure, hoping that his first assumption was the correct one. Spirit cautiously watched Varren as he did so, remaining still, though ready to sprint away at a moment's notice.

Varren could just barely make out the figure walking closer towards them. Still very uncertain, the gentleman slowly stood from the ground, walking towards this stranger as well. He gestured with his hand for Spirit to follow him. "I need you to come with me in case something goes wrong. If the worst case scenario happens to come into play, then, well, you can have the honor of avenging my death. However, your presence should minimize this possibility to a percentage that I believe to be less than one."

With reluctance, Spirit began to follow behind Varren. "Alright, fine…"

Eventually, they got close enough to see that the figure was a young girl that seemed to be in her early stage of her teen years. She had a wonderfully golden set of hair which rested on her shoulders. The closer they got, the more that Varren could assume that she wasn't a very tall girl. Varren could see that the young girl was approximately five feet and three inches tall. Her face looked rather emotionless, yet, at the same time, saddened, as if she'd just attended her mother's funeral.

When the gentleman and Spirit had made it in front of the young girl, Varren had no idea whether to give her his thanks for saving the both of them from that supposed robber, or to simply ask her what was on her mind in an attempt to cheer her up. But the teen spoke first. "Listen, you two, you have to get out of here. Phantom already knows you're here. Please, for your own sake, just leave. You don't need to be here. You don't need to experience the pain that he can bring you."

Varren's gaze softened. The gentleman understood that the teenager was trying to be thoughtful, but really, he'd come here for a reason; he wasn't about to turn back now. The gentleman took in a deep breath, then let it out in a quiet sigh, while bending over, placing hands on his knees. "Listen, little one, I can gather the idea that you're trying to protect me and everything, but my companion and I are here for a very important reason. We've come here with the knowledge that the person who you're speaking of is the current leader of this world. We're no fools either, you see, so don't worry yourself. I can assure you that we will rid the burden that is this 'Phantom' character from you, just as everyone else that lives here."

The girl shook her head as her gaze fell to the ground. "No, you can't defeat him, you can't. My people have already tried… I lost my entire continent to the hands of that monster."

Varren tilted his head, staring at the girl curiously. Was she a former queen? Truly, such a sight was unusual, especially for someone at such a young age.

The gentleman shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts of pointless past information. Then Varren smiled at her reassuringly. "Believe in me, ma'am. I can give you results which are simply—" he paused momentarily to come up with something clever, "—out of this world."

Without giving the girl a chance to respond, Varren then stood upright and began walking passed her, headed for the direction from whence she came, which, thankfully, is where he began to feel a faint, energetic attraction.

Spirit glanced at the girl, then turned her gaze to Varren again to walk by his side. The dark squirrel brushed her tail alongside the young girl's side. "Thanks for saving us, by the way," she added.

The blonde-haired teenager turned around to face Varren and Spirit. "What are your names?" she asked them.

Varren stopped in his tracks, then turned around halfway to smile at the girl friendlily. "Why, thank you for asking, ma'am. My name is Varren, and this woman here would be my partner, Spirit. Might I ask your name before we go?"

The girl slowly nodded. "Yes… My name's Katie."

Varren mumbled the name under his breath to repeat it to himself, doing his best to ensure himself that he wouldn't forget that name, in case it came up again in the future. "Katie…" The gentleman smiled once again. "That's a delightful name you have, Katie. We'll be off, now."

With that, Varren turned away from the newcomer to resume his walk towards where he assumed Phantom was. The gentleman simply needed to consume another fraction of his energy. If there was any way that he could take his energy from the villain in a peaceful manner, then he would make sure that this tactic would be used to its fullest extent. However, if Phantom really was as cruel and evil as the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's guide had made him seem, then the chances are that he would have to claim the energy that was rightfully his by force. While it's true that he knew that Katie was simply trying to give him advice to avoid doing this at all costs, Varren simply didn't want the pace of his progress to be slowed.

The young, teenage girl only stared after the two of them hopelessly, knowing that they wouldn't listen to her. They were walking in the direction where Phantom's castle was located, though she had no idea how they knew where it was. But that was the least of Katie's concerns. In the young girl's mind, this area might very well be the last place Varren and Spirit will ever explore. For who could have the strength to defeat one who has conquered all?


	16. Bonding

Varren continued to walk through the city towards the direction where the girl named Katie had come from. The gentleman was grateful that she was so kind to him and his partner, to be truthful. If it hadn't been for her, then that rouge would've killed both Varren _and_ Spirit, or at least managed to injure one of them.

However, it was Katie's kindness that made Varren feel a bit guilty for leaving her behind like he did. Varren couldn't help but wish that he didn't have act so rudely towards someone, even if it was just a child. Still though, he didn't want to take any chances of having unnecessary casualties, so the safest bet was to leave her behind.

The human squirrel continued to walk by Varren's side, keeping her thoughts of how he acted so differently to Katie hidden. Spirit had never seen Varren so eager to dismiss a topic before. The mere thought of the gentleman behaving in such a way seemed strange to her, but she knew that he must have had good intentions. Varren _always_ had good intentions in mind, after all.

Spirit squinted, her eyes carefully examining the area up ahead. The black-furred squirrel could barely make out an object that looked similar to a building from afar. "I think we're going the right way," she assured her partner.

Varren looked at Spirit momentarily to see that she was squinting, looking up ahead. Quickly coming to the realization that there must have been something in this general direction that would give his partner this assumption, the gentleman turned his gaze forward as well. Varren strained his eyes to look at what Spirit saw, but he could find nothing but the casual horizon. "Are you quite sure about that?" he asked.

Spirit nodded. "Yes, I'm positive." She gave Varren an arrogant smirk. "I'm not surprised that I can see far away objects better than you can."

Varren had no idea how to respond to such a remark at first; he turned to Spirit and gave her a confused expression. The gentleman wasn't used to such behavior. Yet, slowly, he began to come to the conclusion that he should respond positively, rather than negatively. This was obviously a playful comment, after all, so it would be improper of him to take offense to it. Varren simply stared at Spirit as a response, though, contemplating how common people acted 'playfully.'

Spirit could tell by the look in Varren's eyes that he was overthinking her comment. The black squirrel looked down while letting out a sigh, internally dismissing her attempt to irritate the gentleman. "You don't have to take everything so seriously, you know."

Varren then analyzed Spirit a moment longer to configure that he'd ruined the playful mood. Guilt slowly weighed down Varren's heart; the gentleman pulled the edge of his brown fedora over his eyes. "I'm terribly sorry about that, Spirit. If you're unhappy with my response, or rather lack thereof, then I can personally guarantee you that it shall not happen again."

Spirit shook her head at Varren's response since he'd also taken _this_ too seriously as well. "Don't worry about it, V. It's okay. " The black squirrel kept her sour thoughts to herself: _Though, I hope that you'll actually_ respond _next time, if it's not too much trouble_.

Upon receiving the forgiveness, Varren could feel the heaviness of the guilt fade from his heart. The gentleman smiled contentedly, straightened his back, and walked heartier than before. "Thank you, madam. I can assure you that what you have said means more to me than you know. It truly is a relief to know that I haven't done anything wrong."

Spirit found Varren annoying when she'd heard his response. No, it wasn't Varren himself that the black squirrel found so irritating. It the fact that Varren was oblivious about what he did wrong that had really pissed Spirit off. The gentleman was ignorant of her wrath, and the sheer amount of blind fury the black-furred squirrel was wallowing in made her want to strangle him.

However, Spirit decided to control herself. After all, Varren was her ticket to learning more about how to manipulate energy, so she couldn't kill him yet. Spirit simply needed to express her annoyance in a calm and healthy manner, no matter how badly she wanted to rip his throat out.

The dark squirrel took in a deep breath, and then slowly let it out, allowing her shoulders to relax. "Varren," she said in the kindest voice her bitter mood would tolerate, "I want to be honest with you. You _did_ do something wrong. If you would've replied a little bit sooner instead of _staring_ at me…!" Spirit was too annoyed to finish the sentence without losing her cool.

Slowly, Varren looked at Spirit, taking in what she told him, and processing the meaning of her unfinished sentence as quickly as possible in his mind. Varren assumed that she was angry at him yet again. In his point of view, the more time that he spent socializing, the less of a legitimate gentleman he seemed to be.

No. Varren refused to allow the guilt of being improper drag his heart down again; he came to a sudden halt, and then faced Spirit entirely.

The black squirrel glanced at Varren before doing the same, turning to him as well.

Varren scooped the light-brown hat from his head and put it on his chest, giving a polite bow to the human squirrel. "Thank you for your honesty, madam. I understand that I've annoyed you due to the fact that I didn't respond. While it's true that I've given you my word that this simply won't happen again, it appears as if my promises aren't quite enough for you."

The gentleman stood up properly once again, putting his signature beige hat back on his head where it belonged. Varren smiled at Spirit friendlily. "Instead of simply giving you my word, what do you say to the idea of having a conversation with me so that I might be able to prove that my guarantee is accurate? I won't overanalyze a thing this time. I swear it."

Spirit stared at Varren. She wasn't sure what to make of the guy. In only an instants' notice, Varren had gone from infuriating to kind, and gentlemanly. _Oh, forget it_, she thought. The black-furred squirrel couldn't bring herself to be angry at Varren for more than a few moments. He truly was a fine gentleman.

Letting out a sigh, she said, "You're lucky. Most people who irritate me would be dead by now."

Varren chuckled as he began to resume his walk. "I'm honored to be such a lucky man, this much is true, but I would consider myself fortunate for a different reason."

Spirit followed beside the gentleman, and then glanced at him with eyes full of expectations, as if urging him to go on.

Varren paused momentarily, uncertain. Due to the fact that Spirit hadn't verbally addressed the gentleman to continue on with his idea, he was hesitant in going any further. But Varren was determined to keep his promise; he forced words out of his mouth. "While I have no doubts that most people who irritate you would, indeed, be deceased by now, I would have to say that I'm rather lucky due to the fact that—well—most people would've stopped speaking to me by now."

Varren looked down at the ground as he gloomily continued, "I'm not going to lie to you, Spirit. I've lived most of my life in contented isolation, hiding myself in a darkly lit room. In this area, there would be a small desk, which is what I would normally sit in front of in order to write down my thoughts for the day, or perhaps to start cooking up a project of sorts."

Spirit tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Why's _contented_ isolation a bad thing, then?" she asked him.

Varren turned his gaze to Spirit again to both exchange eye contact and answer her question properly. "Spending so much time in there has made socialization a difficult task for me. The fact of the matter is that I most likely won't know if I've done anything socially unacceptable in a casual conversation, nor will I be aware of anything if _you_ happen to act rudely to me while speaking to me in the same, casual manner." Varren glanced down momentarily, his dark-brown eyes stained in regret. "As I'm sure you can imagine, this is what makes it rather hard for me to be a proper gentleman."

Spirit shook her head. "I'll admit, V, there are some times when you make me really angry, but that goes for everyone. There are going to be times where you'll mess up. You can't help that, and neither can anyone else."

The dark squirrel scratched the back of her neck. Spirit wasn't used to giving this kind of advice, but, hesitantly, she continued on. "Listen, Varren, you're not an improper gentleman. That's the furthest thing possible from the truth. You're the most gentlemanly person I know.

"And about not many people speaking to you for nearly as long as I do," Spirit went on, "I'm in no better shape than you are. From where I came from, everyone hated me. True, sometimes it's a bit strange for me to think that someone such as yourself is as polite to me as you are, since I've spent all of my life basking in hatred, but—" the black squirrel shortly paused again, unsure as to how to conclude her statement without making herself sound too grateful. "—it's a nice change."

Varren's walking pace slowed slightly. His brain was wracking at what Spirit had said, trying to process such kind reassurance, accompanied with a wondrous compliment, and finished off with a shaky, but completely honest gratitude. Nobody had ever said something so kind to Varren before except his now-dead twin sister. Other than her, the gentleman wouldn't have dreamt that _anyone_ would've spoken such kind, thoughtful words to him.

Then Varren began to recall what his sibling used to be like when she was still alive. She was a woman with the palest skin anyone had ever seen. She was a woman strange enough to have red, loving eyes, as well as an equally crimson, elegant dress, worn on a daily basis. She was the gentleman's dear sister, the one he raised as if she'd been his daughter. She was Megan. Throughout Varren's entire quest to conquer Darmaque, not once had Megan crossed his mind. Yet, so easily, Spirit had reminded him of his dearest sister. Varren stared at Spirit as if she'd transformed into Megan right before his eyes.

Slowly, Varren began to smile. The smile wasn't out of couth behavior, nor was it a forced one because it was needed at the moment in order to have a proper conversation. It was a genuine, happy smile. Varren was truly happy. Acting on this sudden burst of joy, Varren immediately turned to hold Spirit in a tight, close-fitting hug.

The dark squirrel flinched as if she was about to perform a counterattack. The hug had caught her completely off guard. Spirit wasn't sure how to respond. Slowly, the concept of the hug began to register in her mind.

Spirit felt her cheeks warm up. For what seemed like an eternity, she simply stood in silence. A quirky feeling began to rise from the pit of what she thought felt like her gut, warm as her cheeks. It was a strange sensation. Spirit's cheeks had heated up before, in the midst of combat, but the emotional tingle was nonexistent during those times. This experience was brand new to the confused, dark squirrel.

"Thank you very much, Spirit," Varren whispered, putting a gentle end to the silence. He could feel his eyes moisten with tears of joy. All the same, the gentleman gathered the strength needed to continue. "You have no idea how much that means to me. Thank you, oh, so much."

The sudden tenderness in Varren's voice only made the heat in Spirit's cheeks intensify. The black-furred squirrel had no idea what to make of this foreign emotion, nor did she have any idea why words from _her_ (of all people) would mean so much to him. But, despite her confusion, she, too, began to smile.

For some reason, making Varren this happy produced a feeling accomplishment, one that Spirit wanted to relish in. She returned his hug to further bask in the strange, yet pleasant emotion. "You're welcome, Varren," she quietly replied.


	17. Invite Him Inside

The masked, shadowy figure sat in his throne, resting his chin on his fist. Phantom swished the dirty-red, thick fluids in the cup to the left and right in a slow, continuous pattern. Venomous, equally cerise eyes glowed from behind his disturbing, purple mask.

Two guards wearing black, bulletproof vests stood on either side of the room. Both of them wielded guns that were nearly as tall as they were, clearly ready to decimate anything—or anyone—who dared to draw their weapons.

Phantom calmly began to mumble to himself. "Come now, Katie… I know that you've found it by now. When will you come back with more of my energy…?"

The cloaked figure slowly lifted his mask, revealing the freakishly pale skin on his lower jaw, but it was quickly hidden when he drank from his wine glass. The red liquids stained his albino jaw to a dark, unsettling red. Phantom slid his mask back down. The two guards heard licking sounds coming from underneath the disguise; the menace shuddered in excitement. "Oh, I simply love the taste of blood…"

Suddenly, the door to Phantom's left burst open. The masked devil looked at the one who'd entered his room so abruptly, and was happy to discover that it was the one he'd been waiting for, Katie. He hid his excitement, condensing it in a soft, bone-chilling chuckle. The hunger for power reeked from the sound of it. Phantom held out his hand toward the blonde. "Well, if it isn't my favorite servant! I was just thinking about you, actually…"

Hesitantly, the young teenager walked in front of Phantom's throne and knelt down on the metal floor, more out of fear than loyalty.

The menacing villain stared at Katie for a moment. Judging by the look on her face, he could tell that Katie hadn't succeeded in completing her quest. Phantom's good mood began to die away, but he didn't react negatively. He simply stared at the teen, as if holding himself back.

Katie only stared down at the cold, unnatural iron that the floor was made out of. She didn't want to look into Phantom's eyes. They filled the girl with a feeling of dread that she never wanted to experience more than once. The cloaked figure's menacing gaze reminded her of how he'd destroyed her homeland, how he'd killed off most of her resistance, and worst of all, they made her feel helplessly ensnared, like she was the next person on his list of people who needed to die.

After all the time he spent waiting, she'd come back to him with nothing? It sickened Phantom that his servant had failed him. The dark emperor's right hand clenched tightly at the arm of his throne, more to restrain himself than to show his anger. The look in Phantom's eyes had never ceased. The masked man tilted his head to the side as he said in a cold, merciless voice, "How dare you come back to me empty-handed?"

Phantom let his sudden burst of rage overcome his proper judgment; he drew his right hand back. "Useless!"

Katie winced, squinting tightly as she braced for the impact. However, it hadn't come yet. There was a moment of silence in which Katie was processing the situation. Slowly, the young teen opened her eyes, examining Phantom cautiously.

The purple smile painted on the emperor's overall pitch black mask seemed to complement the sudden look of satisfaction glowing in his eyes. Phantom slowly put his hand back down, resting it on the arm of his throne once again. He spoke softly. "Well, would you look at what we have here?"

Katie only continued to stare at Phantom in confusion. What could he be talking about? There wasn't anything new in this room, as nobody had entered.

The young teen soon found the answer when Phantom turned his gaze towards the guard to the left of his throne. "You there, scan around the castle. Tell me if you see anything unusual…"

The guard, now acting as a scout, walked over to the brick wall in front of Phantom's throne. He grabbed onto one of the bricks, then retracted his hand as it automatically pulled itself out of the wall a bit, then slid to the side, creating a small opening in the room. The guard looked through the opening, scanning the area for only a few seconds before his eyes caught two figures: One was a male in a brown suit, lighter brown fedora on top of his head. The other person seemed to be a strange, female, humanoid squirrel, though her fur was completely dark. They were both startlingly close to the castle, and getting closer, too.

The guard nodded his head. "Yeah, m'lord, I'm seeing something really strange. There's some bloke wearing a fancy-lookin' suit of sorts, and alongside him, there's a woman who's got black _fur_—yes, you heard me right—all over her body. She looks like she's some sort of human-squirrel fusion born from the phantose. They're mighty close to the castle, sire. Do you want us to blast 'em down where they stand?"

Katie froze in fear. Were those two out of their minds?

Phantom didn't notice Katie's worry. He was too excited about the situation at hand. Rather than giving the instruction to kill them immediately, the dark one laughed. The sound of his voice was soft, as usual, yet, nonetheless, it was a disgusting one. Phantom shook his head, pressing the palm of his hand on the forehead area of his black mask. "What amazing luck! When my servants couldn't find the energy, the energy comes to me! Are the Fates on my side at last?"

The guard turned around to look at Phantom with a confused expression. Why was he so happy, and how did he know that it was _those_ two weirdos who had his energy? Slowly, the guard said, "Um, y-yes, m'lord, the Fates have always been on your side, as you should know. But, what are your orders?"

Phantom pointed at the opening of the castle. "Both of you, go outside to greet this properly dressed gentleman and his freak. Open the doors for them, and invite them inside. Don't show them any hostility, understand?"

The guard who'd walked over to the brick wall only continued to stare at his leader, dumbfounded by what he'd just been ordered to do. "Are you completely certain that this is what you want, sire? After all, they're intruders and—"

Phantom glared coldly at the guard. "Aldan, do you wish to become the next serving in my beverage?"

The timid guard, now revealed as Aldan, seemed to go pale. Though he had a giant gun kept by his side, Aldan knew that this weaponry wouldn't even phase Phantom; it would only encourage the dark one's wrath. He shook his head violently. "N-No, m'lord, I'll do as you wish. C'mon, Brent, let's go."

The guard that, throughout everything, had stood to the right of Phantom's throne in diligent silence turned his gaze toward Aldan. This guard, or Brent, slowly turned his gaze towards Aldan. "I will fulfill the master's wishes," he said dully, almost like a drone would. Then he began to march to the left door, which led to the staircase that would take him downstairs, and out of the castle. It was the quickest exit.

Aldan had intended to be the one leading, but since Brent had already taken that possibility away from him, Aldan simply followed behind his partner, walking outside of the castle.

Phantom watched as the two guards left the room. Once they were gone, his red eyes darted over to Katie, who'd hadn't yet risen from kneeling down on the ground. "Rise, young one," said the menace.

The teenager shook her head, then immediately stood up from kneeling down on the ground. "Y-Yes, lord Phantom," Katie stammered.

The black-cloaked emperor pointed at the door to the right of his throne, the opposite direction of where the two guards Brent and Aldan had left the room. "Katie, dear, why don't you leave this area…? I wish to speak with these two newcomers in private, if you don't mind…"

Katie looked down in regret. She could easily tell where things were going from here; the teenager knew of Phantom's dark intent before it had even occurred. But Katie also knew that she couldn't refuse Phantom's power, lest she lose her _own_ life to it. So the young girl nodded, and walked through the door on the right, and made her way toward her room.

Katie opened walked down a long, stony corridor, several doors placed on the side of it. She opened the door that was at the very end of the hallway to reveal her room. It was a large one. There was a decoration of two swords clashing against each other above her single window, the only source of light in the room. Next to the window, there was a large dresser, filled with all the clothes that any woman could dream of. On top of this dresser was a tall mirror, along with a brush and a spray bottle. On the other side of the room was an extremely, and equally wide bed with light-blue covers and white pillows.

Katie walked over to her large bed, and then threw herself on top of it, heaving a sigh of defeat, and depression. _What does it matter if I lose my life to this freak, anyway?_ she internally lamented. _It's not like my life matters. I've lost my country, my family, my friends—everything, and I have nothing to come back to me in order to fill this emptiness. The only two people who might've been able to do that will be killed any moment… I couldn't even find the proper words I needed to persuade them to leave! What kind of failure am I?_

And so the teenager was left alone with her self-destructive thoughts, with nobody to comfort her. The only company that she had was her reflection in the mirror, if she wanted to talk to herself, but that would only make her feel like a nut. Katie felt as if she was the only one on this planet. What a lonesome, unlucky girl.

**With Varren and Spirit…**

Varren stared at the castle directly in front of them. The black, massive doors of steel had golden spikes coating the hinges. Two equally golden heads of lions were slightly above the bronze door handle that was placed on each seemingly identical door. The gentleman turned to his partner, clearing his throat. "We've made it at our destination at long last, Spirit," he told her. "However, I want you to be careful about your surroundings. We don't know the complexity of this castle; there could be booby-traps, entire waves of guards, mutations of sorts, or perhaps even demons! It's best if we keep on our toes, alright?"

Before Spirit could respond, the doors suddenly opened themselves up. Two men, both in black, bullet proof vests, came out from the castle, wielding some kind of guns that were taller than they were, tied to their sides. One of the guards looked a bit uncertain about something or another, and the other man simply held a blank expression, completely dull of everything.

But it wasn't the two men's facial features that Varren was truly concerned about, rather it was their weapons. Considering the equal size of the openings of them, these guns must have been rocket launchers!

However, what one of the guards said to them was startling to the gentleman. Rather than threatening the two of them with their massive gear, the two men stood on either ends of the doors, putting their guns down on the ground as if they were swords. The dull warrior said, "We mean you two no harm. Lord Phantom would like to see you inside his castle immediately. We were given orders by him to treat you with the utmost hospitality. We hope that you enjoy your stay in the castle."

Spirit was slightly taken aback by their kindness. She was quick to put it aside though, turning to smirk at the gentleman. "Remind me again about how dangerous this castle is?"

Varren didn't know whether to feel confused by the sudden chivalry that had come out of nowhere or to feel embarrassed by the fact that Spirit had supposedly contradicted him. On one hand, the two guards could be leading them into a trap. After all, by what the CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN's guide had said, Phantom did seem to be a malevolent being. On the other hand, though, the guards might not be planning anything in particular. Who knows? Maybe they were legitimately told by Phantom not to harm them? But why would Phantom want that? Wouldn't it be the smartest idea to kill the gentleman and his companion where they stood so that way there would be no struggle in the process of taking the rest of his energy? Unless, for some reason, Phantom needed Varren alive to absorb his power. This would explain why he didn't want to have him consumed.

Either way, the gentleman couldn't say that he was in much better condition. The only way he knew how to get his energy back from anybody was to destroy its container, whether it had consciousness, or if it was simply an artifact. Varren simply had to accept Phantom's invitation. _Very well, Phantom, I'll play your game,_ thought the gentleman

Varren stepped into the castle, forcing out a grin to Spirit's direction. He still had to keep his promise that he'd made, after all. The black-furred squirrel followed him, and, together, they both marched into the massive, foreign castle.


	18. Gluttony is a Sin

Varren and his companion, Spirit, were led by the two polite, but armed men to a wooden door, a silver spike sticking through its center. The seemingly emotionless one, Brent, opened up the door to reveal a metal, spiral staircase. The steps themselves seemed to be made out of metal, but the walls didn't match that. Instead, they were gray bricks.

Varren and Spirit walked side by side, following directly behind the two men. Glancing at Spirit, the gentleman couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious. Why had she been so willing to come into this place to begin with? Surely it should've been obvious to her that this was nothing more than a trap? It simply wasn't like her to pass up these sorts of things. Or, at least, that's what the gentleman imagined from the information he'd gathered while contemplating Spirit's personality. Varren continued to stare at the human squirrel, giving her a look of uncertainty.

Spirit glanced back at Varren, noticing his uncertain, yet suspicious gaze. She was unable to read the gentleman's mind; Spirit couldn't tell why he would feel uneasy around her. But, all the same, she had a pretty good guess. Varren was probably uncertain because of how she'd so willingly walked into the building, and was just overthinking things, as usual. Attempting to reassure Varren that she knew what she was doing, Spirit returned his confused stare with a confident smirk, hoping that he'd pick up the message she was trying to deliver. The black-furred squirrel knew that Varren wasn't very good at picking up social cues, but hopefully he could piece things together.

The gentleman stared at Spirit a moment after she'd smirked. Then, reassured as Spirit had hoped, Varren smiled at her, nodding his head. It was obvious to Varren that his partner was simply confident that, if there _was_ any threat in this place, they could easily wipe them away. Normally, he would've thought that such a thought process was a foolish one, and that such a mindset would easily be someone's undoing, but, instead, he simply felt a bit safer to know that someone such as herself was on _his_ side.

The two warriors had gotten to the top of the spiral staircase, opening another door, though this one was black, and metal. The emotionless Brent stood at the left side of the door, and Aldan hesitantly stood to the right of the door.

Varren and Spirit walked into the large, chilling room. It was black as the night sky; Varren couldn't see a thing. Spirit, however, seemed to have trained herself to be able to analyze her surroundings, even in these conditions. She stared ahead, trying to take in the entirety of the room at once. Whatever she saw, Varren noticed by her silhouette flinching that she was startled by her surroundings.

A single torch that was attached to the part of the wall behind a masked figure in a dark cloak suddenly lit with a dark-blue flame. As if taking a domino effect, several other dark-blue flames lit all the other torches that were apparently existent in the room.

Varren stared at the figure's mask. There were purple markings around the openings of his eyes, and some other random markings of purple paint here and there. But, most creepily, there was a smile painted on it with that same color of paint. The gentleman found it to be truly sickening, this much was certainly true, but, at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a strange attraction radiating off of the man. Could it be that this was the owner of Varren's energy?

The masked figure swished a wine glass back and forth in his hand. He wouldn't pull his eyes away from Varren and Spirit. His pale, clawed hand gently eased his beverage down as he out a sigh that sounded contented. Without bothering to address the two guards, he said, "Aldan, Brent, leave me alone. I've things to discuss with this kind man…"

Brent bowed politely before leaving the room from whence he came without a second thought. Aldan, however, was even more confused upon receiving that order. He had no idea why lord Phantom was so confident that these two strangers were the keepers of the energy that he was looking for, but at this point, the guard simply shook his head and obeyed, walking out of the room. Aldan wasn't foolish enough to question Phantom's orders a second time.

The blood red eyes of the figure watched as the two guards left the room. When the door had closed, he slowly turned his gaze back to Varren and Spirit. His stare was filled with the desire of a savage that hadn't eaten in weeks. "Well, would you like me to tell me your names…?" he asked, his voice soft, yet menacing.

Spirit spoke up for Varren, "Only if you tell us yours first."

A cold chuckle came from the figure. "Hm-hm-hm-hm-hm… Oh, my dear, I'm afraid it simply doesn't work like that. _I'm_ in charge here… Now, I'll only ask nicely a second time. Tell me your names…"

Varren took off his hat and put it on his chest as he gave a polite bow, attempting to get on this freak's good side. "My name is Varren, sir, and this is my partner, Spirit. I'm terribly sorry, you must forgive her rudeness. Sometimes she simply can't contain herself."

Spirit stared at Varren. Now it was _her_ turn to be confused. Clearly this man was evil, so why on earth would Varren act so polite towards him? Was he really _that_much of a gentleman?

"Well, Varren, Spirit," replied the figure, "I suppose that it's time for me to return your honesty with my own. I wanted you to know that, from the moment I first detected your presence on my planet, I felt an unimaginably large amount of relief, and I've just been dying to meet you… So, allow me to introduce myself…"

The cloaked figure stood up, placing his white, clawed hand on his mask. Slowly, he began to clench on his disguise in a tight grip, his claws slightly piercing it. The figure started to pull on it, the sound of rubber stretching out in the back ground. With a _snap_! the mask was removed, but the man's head whiplashed, forcing his gaze upwards as a result. The only visible features with his head in this angle were his neck, and his chin, covered in smooth, white scales. Slowly, the freak of nature let his cloak slip from his shoulders, revealing a massive, white tail of a snake. On top of that, his whole body was covered in those same scales. The freakish man slowly eased his head back down, revealing that he had no hair whatsoever. The sclera in each eye was completely black, two hungry, red beams of light shining through them in the dimly lit area.

"You two deserve the honor of knowing my name, or so I'd think. It might just be the similarities that I sense, but… I go by Phantom, the emperor of this glorious planet. My _real_ name, however—" the scaled freak widened his eyes, a sickening smile spreading across his face. "—is Symphrax!"

Varren struggled to refrain from giving the slightest shudder. No matter how vile an appearance such as his could've been, he still didn't want to be disrespectful. The gentleman cleared his throat, then smiled politely at Symphrax. "Well then, my lord, now that we've gotten to know each other, I've actually got a question to ask of you. Do you mind?"

The albino snake stared at Varren, the look in Symphrax's eyes shifting from one of excitement to one that was completely flabbergasted. "I show you my true form, and you want my permission if you can ask me a question? Hmm… I thought for sure that you would be intimidated… But, very well, ask me what you must."

"I have reason to believe that you've unintentionally stolen a fraction of my energy. Is this much true, Symphrax?"

The freakish emperor's eyes widened, the excited feeling returning to them. "Ooh, so this must mean that you're the owner of the rest of that lovely power I found all those centuries ago… My, that's absolutely wonderful…!"

_I'll take that as a 'Yes,'_ the gentleman thought. Varren shook his head, then continued on with business. "Well, I would appreciate it if you were to give this energy back to me, since I'm its original owner. I don't want to have to resort to violence to solve this problem when we can just as easily use logic. What do you say? Would you be so kind as to return it?"

Spirit stared at Varren. What on earth was he thinking? Didn't he know how obvious it was that he would be unable to be social with this monster? Well, now that Spirit thought about it, it was more than likely that the gentleman simply _didn't_ know.

Symphrax laughed softly, shaking his head. "Oh, my, my, _my_, Varren, you're a funny one..."

Then the demonic mutation stared at Varren blankly. "I appreciate how you enjoy using your words more than you enjoy using your fists, but I'm afraid that what _you_have to say simply cannot help you here… However, I can strike a bargain with you…"

Varren nodded, ready to listen. "Very well then, your highness, what proposition did you have in mind?"

Symphrax's tail began to twitch, and an eager look morphed into his eyes once again. "Glad to see that you're willing… We'll settle this with a duel. If the two of you defeat me in this battle, then I'll return your energy back to you where it belongs… However… if I defeat you two, then I'll drain every last ounce of energy from both of your bodies…"

Spirit growled as her fur stood on edge. "So, basically, you're challenging us to a fight to the death, is that it?"

The white snake grinned, obviously entertained about the idea of combatting them for some sick reason. Symphrax flexed his clawed fingers, tail twitching in eagerness. "Yes, I suppose you could call it that… Sorry, Varren, but, as I said, there's simply no place for your words here… Come at me now! I'll cut off the stems of you delicate _flowers_ to drink the nectar of everlasting life from your carcasses!"

Spirit simply ran towards Symphrax without a second thought, as if obeying him, while Varren, on the other hand, stood completely motionless, analyzing the villain. Since the gentleman hadn't had the chance to analyze Symphrax's fighting style, he simply had nothing to counter. Varren would let Spirit attack Symphrax to understand the way he fought, find a weakness within it, and then exploit this flaw.

As the dark squirrel charged to Symphrax, the white snake's tail extended towards Spirit and brushed across the ground in an attempt to trip her. Spirit, however, quickly hopped over his tail's sweep. As Symphrax's tail continued to make its curve, the black-furred humanoid unsheathed her own claws from her hands to slash at the freak's chest.

Symphrax blocked Spirit's claws with all of his, smiling maliciously. He zipped his of his claws in either direction, knocking both of Spirit's arms aside in doing so. A scaly kick to the stomach was followed by such, causing human squirrel to stagger backwards. Then Symphrax's tail curved back around, rising upwards in the direction of the black-furred squirrel's back.

Suddenly, Varren shouted out to Spirit. "The flow of energy! Remember the flow!"

Spirit wasn't exactly sure what to do at this point, as she'd never really _attempted_ going through the explanations that Varren had given her, except for once, when they were training together. But, though unused to maneuvering her energy, she didn't have very many options to choose from.

Just before the tail finally made impact with her spinal area, time paused for Spirit. She envisioned a silhouette of her body, completely hollow of everything aside from her veins. She tried to imagine the familiar, dark-blue energy flowing through them, just as it always had done with Varren. In her mind, though, she simply saw blood coursing, rather than energy.

And then time resumed. Though she was still simply trying to envision what she needed to in an attempt to avoid getting caught in her enemy's trap, the tail slammed against Spirit's back all the same. Strangely enough, however, when the tail had made impact, all the dark squirrel could process was the sound of splashing.

Why would there be a splashing sound? There weren't enough liquids in this dimly lit room to make a splash such as that. Spirit opened her eyes to see what'd happened. Everything seemed to be normal.

Then she looked down at her hand. What she saw made her eyes widen in alarm. Her hand was made of water! Spirit looked at her other hand, only to find that the results were no different than from the first time. Then the dark squirrel looked directly downwards to view her legs and feet—same results. Somehow, she'd liquefied herself in order to avoid the tail's collusion.

Symphrax was staring at Spirit, eyes widened in shock as his tail wrapped around his own feet, almost protectively. "Does this mean that there's more than one elemental that's in this energy's code…?" the snake thought aloud.

The gentleman was proud of Spirit at that moment. He was glad to see that the humanoid squirrel had understood a portion of the skill required to manipulate her energy. This meant that all of that time Varren had spent training with his partner, along with all of the long rants he told to explain the flow of energy, had paid off.

But the time to celebrate was most certainly not in the midst of combat. The battle had only just begun. Varren saw that Symphrax was shocked by the fact that Spirit had managed to convert her entire body into a liquid. This moment of shock for Symphrax was identified as a moment of weakness to Varren.

Quickly, the gentlemanly warrior coated himself in dark-blue energy, his skin outlining in the familiar color, and then maneuvered his power as fast as he could toward the white-scaled freak, dashing as he unsheathed his sword.

Symphrax, however, sensed Varren's energy concentrating one second prior to any amount of movement. The moment Varren started zooming off, the white snake used this second to draw back his fist before thrusting his arm forward, slugging Varren in the face. The mighty blow combined with Varren's speed had the same affect a baseball would while being smacked by a baseball bat; the gentlemanly warrior was sent tumbling across the ground.

Spirit looked at Varren, who'd just been slammed against the right wall. Upon collision, the gentleman's head whipped back to smash against the wall as well. The dark squirrel could easily tell that Varren was now a temporarily helpless meal for Symphrax. In order to prevent the gentleman becoming a target, Spirit threw aside her concentration to solidify herself before running towards the monstrous mutation once again.

At the same time, Varren forced himself to stand up again, and then joined Spirit in her assault, proving to the squirrel that she obviously had nothing to worry about.

Spirit slashed her claws at Symphrax's throat. The white snake's tail twitched out from around his feet, just barely in time to take the brunt of the slash. Varren had reached Symphrax's side at this at this point. The albino nightmare, not even bothering to look at Varren, attempted to smack the courteous knight aside with the back of his hand. However, Varren was considerate of the possibility of a counterattack since his previous failure; he ducked underneath Symphrax's swat and focused dark-blue energy into the tip of his blade before slashing at the monster's side.

At the same time, Spirit summersaulted over Symphrax's scaly weapon, using her claws to slash down at his head from above.

However, the albino monstrosity countered. His tail wrapped around Spirit while she was in midair, restraining her tightly. Spirit tried to liquefy herself once again, but she simply couldn't do it again. The first time she did it was out of pure, dumb luck. Transforming herself into water a _second_ time would be unlikely to unthinkable!

As for Varren's blade, glowing with dark-blue energy, Symphrax simply grabbed onto it, squeezing it tightly. Varren was startled. In all of the time he'd spent in combat, nobody had ever clenched his blade in their fists before; it was a strange tactic in the gentleman's eyes.

While blood leaked from Symphrax's hand, the energy that was channeled into the blade flowed from it into his arm. "After spending hundreds of years adjusting to this power," said the snake tauntingly, "did you _really_ think that I wouldn't be able to manipulate it by now? I'm more skillful than you are, regardless if you have more power than I!"

Symphrax yanked Varren's sword from his grip, then used his remaining hand to wrap his clawed fingers firmly around the gentleman's neck. Varren struggled to pry the villain's hand away from his neck, but the more he struggled, the tighter Symphrax seemed to squeeze.

The mutated freak grinned in a sadistic joy. "But, aside from your energy, I _always_ have had a natural inclination of absorbing people's general power. Well, not_always_, but—" Symphrax's grin grew into a toothy smile as dark blue energy flowed from Varren's neck, into his arm. "—ever since the accident, you see…"

From the dark squirrel, red energy began flowing from all over her body, and into the freak's tail where it entered his own. The life was being sucked out of Spirit at such a rapid pace that, within seconds of the absorption processes, she was beginning to lose consciousness.

Because of this, the first thought that came into Varren's mind was to pry harder at Symphrax's claws. However, it didn't take the gentleman long to figure out that even attempting escape was futile. As if the freakish mutation's grip wasn't strong enough on its own, he was constantly getting stronger through the energy he was absorbing, and, on top of that, Varren was getting weaker, due to the fact that that _he_ was the one who was getting absorbed! Along with being absorbed, the second factor that was weakening him was the lack of oxygen, as he was still being choked the monster's claws. At this rate, there would be no way that he could free himself from this grip. Since this was the case, Varren quickly came to the conclusion that injuring Symphrax would be his best bet of freeing both himself and Spirit.

The gentleman could only gently tap his fist against Symphrax's chest in a weakened, pathetic attempt to cause any sort of damage.

The white snake laughed softly. "Honestly, you two are the _finest_ prey for me to feast upo-" a loud _bang!_ sounded off. Symphrax's forehead was now decorated with a small bullet hole. The freak had a shocked expression frozen on his face as vast streams of blood oozed from his wound.

There was a pause in which the albino monstrosity simply stood there, still as a sculpture. For a moment, Varren was curious if Symphrax was actually dead, or if the villain was just processing what'd happened.

In the background, Varren heard a short-lived clicking noise, followed by a loud _pow!_ A larger hole was planted in Symphrax's right shoulder, knocking him to the ground and causing him to release Varren and Spirit from his death grip. The black-furred squirrel dropped to the ground with a quiet thud.

A large stream of dark-blue energy drifted off of Symphrax's body, and, for some unknown reason, the demonic mutation's body turned decayed rapidly into ash. While it's true that Varren felt as if he'd regained himself due to the returned energy, he knew that Spirit wouldn't feel the same, considering the fact that she _didn't _get herenergy back.

Rather than concerning himself as to who could've shot those bullets in the first place, Varren's primary worry was Spirit's safety. Quickly, the gentleman rushed over to her. He got down on both knees and placed Spirit's head in his lap before gently resting his pointer and middle fingers on the side of her neck, checking for vital signs that would indicate her safety.

Varren held his breath, and waited for a light thump to press back against his fingers. He began to talk to himself in a nervous wreck. "This thump would reveal whether or not Spirit's heart is beating, considering the fact that the blood pumps from the heart and circulates throughout the entirety of the body, thus going through every single vein there is to go through in just one motion." Varren began to hyperventilate as he rapidly continued explaining things to nobody in particular. "Since-this-is-the-case, the-bigger-veins-will-need-more-blood-to-pump-thro ugh-them, therefore, even-outside-the-body, there-would-be-a-small-thump-which-I-would-be-able -to-feel."

"Varren," a familiar female voice interrupted from behind.

The gentleman slowly looked over his shoulder to address the person who'd called his name. It was the blonde teenager, Katie. She had a pistol in her pocket, and was wielding a shotgun with both of her hands. Varren only stared at Katie in surprise. Of all the people to brutally kill someone else like that, the gentleman never would have guessed it to be someone as young, and as seemingly innocent as Katie. He didn't question her reasoning as to why she'd done what she'd done, rather, he simply stared at her in dismay.

Katie dropped the gun to the floor, then gestured for Varren to follow her. "C'mon. Bring Spirit with you. I'll patch her up again, trust me."


End file.
